Moral Education 

By 
Edward Howard Griggs 

Author of 
Tht New Humanism and A Book of Meditationt 



**Welche unendliche Operationen Natur und 
Kunst machen mussenj bis ein gebildeter Mensch 
dasteht." — Goethe. 



NEW YORK 

t. W. HUEBSCH 

1904 



LIBRARY Of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

DEC 5 1904 

ft Oopyriirlii tntry 
CU6& «.. XXc. NO! 
COPY B. / I 



COPYRICHT 1903 



EDWARD HOWARD GRIGGS 



PREFACE 

It is now widely recognized in America that the chief . 
aim of education is to develop noble manhood and woman- 
hood. The absorption, natural to our pioneer period, in 
sharpening the tools of the mind and equipping the individ- 
ual for personal success, is being rapidly replaced by the 
effort to mold the moral personality that will use the mind's 
instruments for the great ends of human life, in harmony 
with the good of the whole. Nor is this movement con- 
fined to our own country. The struggle to recover from 
the disaster of 1870 in France, the influence of the educa- 
tional reformers in Germany, the enthusiastic awakening 
of the nation in Italy, the growth of social and humani- 
tarian sentiment in England, have led to interesting ex- 
periments in moral education in the countries named. 
We have still much to learn from these experiments, espe- 
cially in France and Germany, but it is in our own country 
that the greatest awakening to the moral aim of education 
has occurred. 

Yet while the end is thus generally, if vaguely, recognized, 
there is still the greatest confusion as to what it implies and 
as to the means by which it can be attained. Character is 
often conceived in a purely negative way, as the avoidance 
of evil, while the problem of moral culture is at times even 
interpreted to mean assigning a school period in which to 
teach 'morals and manners ' as one would teach arithmetic. 
Moreover, much of the literature of the subject is singu- 
larly dreary and barren. I have long puzzled over the 



4 PREFACE 

cause of this. Certainly, in practice, ethical problems are 
the most absorbingly interesting of all we must meet, and 
it would seem that moral education should be the most 
interesting, as it is the most important part of the whole 
process of culture. Yet many of the books on the subject 
are filled with a wearisome repetition of the conventional 
analysis of duties, and the commonplace, trite maxims that 
are fruitless for man or child. 

I have been able to discover three reasons for this barren- 
ness: 

1 . Ethical teachers have too often yielded to the temp- 
tation to inculcate what they considered useful without 
much regard to its truth. Where tliey have allowed their 
desire to be helpful to supplant their reverence for reality 
the result is always hypocrisy and artificiality. 

2. It is necessary to take a point of view that is not 
merely of the time, if one's work is to escape triviality. 
This explains why so much of the literature of moral educa- 
tion that once had a value is useless after twenty years, 
while the artistic literature contemporaneous with it is per- 
manent in worth. If we lose the eternal in the transient, 
life ceases to have a meaning; if we live perfectly in the 
moment we realize the eternal. So Plato and Spinoza are 
as useful today, almost, as when they WTote, while the 
ephemeral books born of their hour load our libraries with 
barren stuff. 

3. Deeper than both of these causes is the fact that so 
much of the literature dealing directly with ethical prob- 
lems is born of the study rather than the world, evidencing 
an habitual detachment from human life that involves a 
loss of apDreciation of its concrete problems. While the 
resulting theory may be logical and satisfying to the intc!- 



PREFACE 5 

lect, it helps us little in dealing with the real problems of 
human living. 

Therefore, if we can keep close to the process of life 
itself, asking always reverently what is the truth, and 
seeking to find the eternal in the best life of the moment, 
we may hope to retain, both in our study and in the prac- 
tical work of moral education, something of the deep inter- 
est that ethical problems possess in our experience. 

Thus I have thought it worth while to attempt a study, 
as exhaustive as I could make it, of the whole problem of 
moral culture : its purpose in relation to our society and all 
the means through which that purpose can be attained. 
My aim has been sanity and not novelty. In education as 
in life we are led astray by brilliant half-truths. It is not 
difficult to detect and avoid what is merely false, but wis- 
dom means putting half-truths in their place, viewing each 
element in widest relation and therefore truest perspective, 
seeing life, as Matthew Arnold said Sophocles saw it, 
'steadily and whole.' 

Today, particularly, it is sanity we most need in educa- 
tion. The tides of thought come with ebb and flow; just 
now we are in the flood-tide of what is somewhat mythically 
called "the new education," We have turned from duty 
to interest, from form to content, from discipline to nutri- 
tion, from instruction to expression, from prescription to 
election. In all this is much gain, but only if we avoid 
extreme reaction and keep the good of the old in the new. 
To assume that the novel must be the best, to despise the 
old because it is old, and regard only the most recent theo- 
ries as worthy of enthusiastic following, is to mistake a tidal 
wave for the Gulf Stream and invite a reaction to the ex- 
treme of the very elements against which we have been 



e • PREFACE 

contending. The great truths of life are simple and uni- 
versal ; they have been repeated over and over again. The 
form of their expression is ever new and changing, born 
anew as they must be to meet the needs of a new age. The 
Truth is not a mean between two extremes, nor is it an 
eclectic patchwork combining pieces of truth artificially. 
We attain even glimpses of it only with a certain wholeness 
of vision and sanity of perspective, with a recognition that 
is inclusive and unified. The aim in this book has been 
to see 'steadily and whole' both human life and the pro- 
cess of moral culture that leads to it and makes possible 
the happiest and most helpful living. 

I may sometime publish a body of selected and graded 
material for the ethical instruction of children as outlined 
in Chapters XIX-XXIII. The present work is not a 
text for children, but is intended as a guide for parents and 
teachers, a text for classes studying the subject of moral 
education in normal schools and universities, and as an 
effort at a complete and inclusive view of the problem for 
all who are interested in moral culture. 

Edward Howard Griggs. 

Montclair, New Jersey, September 1904. 



Table of Contents 



PAGE 

Preface 3 

Chapter I. The Ckild World 9 

'II. The Unity of Human Life 17 

III. The Uniqueness of Each Personality . . 21 

IV. The Growth-Process op Human Life . . 32 

V. The Two Principles of Moral Evolution . 40 

VI. The Relation of Moral Culture to Other 

Aspects of Education 47 

VII. The Type of Character Moral Education 

Should Foster 56 

VIII. Types of Activity 67 

IX. Moral Education Through Play ... 74 

X, Moral Education Through Work ... 86 

XL The Moral Influence of Environment: 

Art and Nature 101 

XII. Moral Influence of the Social Atmos- 
phere 114 

XIII. Principles of Government in Home and 

School 129 



TABLE OF CONTENTS, Continued 

PAGE 

Chapter XIV. The Progressive Application of Democ- 
racy IN Home and School Government 142 

" XV. The Nature and Function of Corrective 

Discipline 156 

" XVI. The Administration of Corrective Dis- 
cipline 1C)7 

" XVII. Personal Influence of Parent and Teach- 
er IN THE Government of Children . 182 

" XVIII. Moral Teaching by Example . . . .199 

" XIX. Direct Ethical Instruction 207 

" XX. Ethical Instruction through Other Sub- 
jects: History 222 

• " XXL The Ethical Value of Mythology and 

FOLK-LORE 236 

" XXII. The Value of Literature for Ethical 

Instruction and Inspiration . . . 248 

" XXIII. The Practical Use of History and Litera- 
ture FOR Ethical Instruction . . . 258 

" XXIV. Instruction in the Intimate Problems of 

Human Life 268 

" XXV. The Relation of Moral to Religious 

Education 279 

Conclusion 293 

Bibliography 297 

Index 342 

8 



THE CHILD WORLD 

It has taken long to learn the lesson that childhood is 
not simply an imitation of mature life, nor a preparation 
for it, but a separate and different world with its own joys 
and sorrows. As the early Italian painters made their chil- 
dren, even their babies, smaller men and women, paying 
little attention to the true anatomy and structure of the 
child's body, so the older education treated children as 
lesser men and women, planning its courses of study on an 
analysis of the adult mind. Just as the true representation 
of childhood has been one of the great steps forward in art, 
so the recognition of the different character and independ- 
ent meaning of the child world is perhaps the greatest 
advance in recent education. That recognition is almost 
universal today, though many of its practical results are not 
yet worked out; and we are able to state with some defin- 
iteness the distinguishing characteristics of childhood. 

1. Perhaps beyond anything else it is the intensity of 
interest in the present moment that marks child life in 
contrast to our mature attitude. With the child there is 
less 'looking before and after,' especially with reference 
to painful experience. It is true children take keen pleas- 
ure in the anticipation of a specific promised joy, but largely 
by living it over in advance in the imagination, while there 
is no postponing of the meaning of the present moment. 
Our consciousness that the chapter will end often takes the 



10 * MORAL EDUCATION 

heart out of a joy or lessens the bitterness of our pain ; but 
the child lives in a moment that seems to stretch away 
limitlessly. Wakening on Saturday morning with ' a whole 
day to play in,' he looks forward to a reach of anticipated 
joy hardly equaled by the adult's dream of paradise. 

2. Thus children feel more keenly than we do the joys 
and sorrows of the passing moment. Discounting both 
types of experience for ourselves, we are apt to do so still 
more for the child, unless we have unusual sympathy with 
his point of view. But the breaking of a doll may bring 
the child for the moment into the presence of absolute 
tragedy. It is we who can say: 

"There, little girl; don't cry! 

They have broken your doll, I know; 
And your tea-set blue. 
And your play-house, too. 
Are things of the long ago; 

But childish troubles will soon pass by. — 
There! little girl; don't cry!"' 

We can say this because we can see that every experience, 
however bitter, passes, since we have been schooled to 
recognize the changing succession of moods and events; 
but not so the child. To him the pain or joy of the mo- 
ment is absolute while it lasts. 

3. Childhood is further characterized by much greater 
spontaneity in action and expression than is shown in 
mature life. This applies to both good and bad impulses. 
The fit of passion and the mood of happy generosity tend 
alike to immediate action, since the child has not learned, 

'From A Life-Lesson, by James Whitcomb Riley, in Child-Rhymes, 
pp. 171-172, The Bowen-Merrill Go., Indianapolis, 1899. 



THE CHILD WORLD 11 

as we have, to inhibit or control the expression of passing 
emotions through more permanent controlhng motives. 

4. So the child is nearer reality as opposed to convention 
than are we. The fresh impulses of our lives get over- 
laden with an ever denser garment of social forms, until in 
the end the impulses are suppressed in much of our living. 
Children live more immediately in the presence of truth 
and beauty, responding more directly to the simplest 
things in nature and human life. 

5. Finally, in children the imaginative and erriotional 
life is strong, while the development of conscious reflection 
proceeds slowly. The child is a bundle of impulses and 
instincts, generic and individual, combined by heredity, 
called out under the influence of environment, rapidly 
crystallizing into habits, meagerly supervised by conscious 
reflection. 

As the child world is thus distinct in character and 
meaning, so it has its own worth apart from its relation to 
subsequent life. It is most important to recognize this, 
since there can be no greater failure than in ever postponing 
life to some future time.^ This was the mistake of medi- 
aeval Christianity with reference to the whole earth life. 
This world was regarded as so merely a preparation for 
another that the meaning of the present life was sometimes 
quite lost. We have learned that if life is to be good any- 
where it ought to begin to be good now, and it is our busi- 

* "To be suddenly snuffed out in the middle of ambitious schemes, 
is tragical enough at best; but when a man has been grudging him- 
self his own life in the meanwhile, and saving up everything for the 
festival that was never to be, it becomes that hysterically moving 
sort of tragedy which lies on the confines of farce. The victim is 
dead — and he has cunningly overreached himself: a combination of 
calamities none the less absurd for being grim." — Robert Louis 
Stevenson, Virginihus Puerisque, p. 95. 



12 MORAL EDUCATION 

ness to make it so. The best preparation for any possible 
future world is the fullest realization of life in the present. 

In the same way life should have as complete a meaning 
as possible in each phase of it, and to postpone one phase 
ever to the next and the next is to miss the meaning of the 
whole. Kant's practical imperative of duty was: "So act 
as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in 
that of any other, in every case, as an end withal, never as a 
means only."^ This imperative must be extended to each 
phase in the process of the individual life; each must be 
regarded as having its own value, therefore as in some 
measure an end in itself, never merely a means to some 
later phase." 

This principle is generally recognized in its application 
to mature life, and sometimes to youth; but unfortunately 
the moment we turn to the problem of education we tend to 
forget it, and so to mold everything with reference to the 
adult life for which we wish to form the child. The result 
is the same as with human life in the middle ages. If we 
treat childhood merely as a preparation for maturity we 
fail to prepare well, besides losing much of the independent 

* Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and Other Works on the 
Theory of Ethics, translated by T. K. Abbott, p. 47. Longmans, 
Green, & Co., London, 1889. 

^ "The boy has not become a boy, nor has the youthbecome ayouth, 
by reaching a certain age, but only by having lived through child- 
hood, and, further on, through boyhood, true to the requirements 
of his mind, his feelings, and his body; similarly, adult man has not 
become an adult man by reaching a certain age, but only by faith- 
fully satisfying the requirements of his childhood, boyhood, and 
yoyth." — Friedrich Froebel, The Education of ikf an, translated by 
Hailmann, p. 29. 

" Woe to every sort of culture which destroys the most effectual 
means of all true culture, and directs us to the end, instead of ren- 
dering us happy on the way!" — Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Appren- 
ticeship and Travels, translated by Carlyle, vol. 2, p. 80. 



THE CHILD WORLD 13 

worth of childhood in joy and beauty. One of our greatest 
debts to Rousseau is his insistence that we must make child- 
hood joyous in every step of it;^ and later writers such as 
Stevenson, Grahame, Barrie, Field, Riley, have done us a 
priceless service in interpreting childhood so that we are 
made to see its worth for itself. The books of these mod- 
ern authors, written nominally for children, often appeal 
less to a child audience than to us, to whom they give a 
new vision and appreciation of the child worlds 

As childhood may and ought to be one of the happiest 
and most beautiful chapters of human experience, it is 
especially necessary that we should apply to it the principle 
of the independent worth of each phase of life. The 
'golden glory' in which many of us see our early life, may 
indeed be due to the mists of the years that lie between, 
nevertheless the qualities that distinguish childhood, its 
freshness and spontaneity, its closeness to nature and 

^ See, for example, Emile, book II, pp. 59-60, Firmin-Didot et Cie., 
Paris, 1894: 

"Les plus grands risques de la vie sont dans son commencement; 
moins on a vecu, moins on doit esp6rer de vivre. Des enfants qui 
naissent, la moitie, tout au plus, parvient k I'adolescence, et il est 
probable que votre eleve n'atteindra pas I'age d'homme. 

"Que faut-il done penser de cette Education barbare qui sacrifie 
le present a un avenir incertain, qui charge un enfant de chaines de 
toute espece, et commence par le rendre miserable, pour lui preparer 
au loin je ne sais quel pr^tendu bonheur dont il est a croire qu il ne 
jouira jamais? Quand je supposerais cette education raisonnable 
dans son objet, comment voir, sans indignation, de pauvres infor- 
tun^s soumis a un joug insupportable, et condamnes a des travaux 
continuels comme des galeriens, sans etre assure que tant de soins 
leur seront jamais utiles? L'age de la gaiete se passe au milieu des 
pleurs, des chatiments, des menaces, de I'esclavage. On tourmente 
le malheureiix, pour son bien; et Ton ne voit pas la mort qu'on 
appelle, et qui va le saisir au milieu de ce triste appareil. Qui salt 
combien d'enfants p^rissent victimes de I'extravagante sagesse d'un 
pere ou d'un maltre? Heureux d'echapper k sa cruaute, le seul 
avantage qu'ils tirent des maux qu'il leur a fait souffrir, est de 
mourir sans regretter la vie, Jont ils n'ont connu que les tourments." 



14 MORAL EDUCATION 

simple human life, give it a charm and meaning not equaled 
in the same way by later experience. How foolish then 
is all educational discussion that regards only what we 
wish to secure in maturity, without considering the worth 
and happiness of each moment of the child's life. Our aim 
should be to treat each child so that if life broke off at any 
point we could say of the chapter experienced by the child, 
it was happy and worth while. ^ 

On the other hand, if life should have as full a meaning 
as possible in each moment, it should also be an organic 
unity. As Wordsworth states it: 

"The Child is father of the Man; 
And I could wish my days to be 
Bound each to each by natural piety." ^ 

Nothing makes for general wretchedness more completely 
than a life in which each phase stands whimsically apart 
from all the rest, the individual following in every step of 
his experience the chance will-o'-the-wisp of the moment's 
desire. Each part of life should have its rational place in 
the whole, and one phase should lead naturally to the next; 

• Compare Lecky, The Map of Life, pp. 239-240: 

"Many a parent standing by the coffin of his child has felt with 
bitterness how much of the measure of enjoyment that short life 
might have known has been cut off by an injudicious education. 
And even if adult life is attained, the evils of an unhappy childhood 
are seldom wholly compensated. The pleasures of retrospect are 
among the most real we possess, and it is around our childish days 
that our fondest associations naturally cluster. An early overstrain 
of our powers often leaves. behind it lasting distortion or weakness, 
and a sad childhood introduces into the character elements of mor- 
bidness and bitterness that will not disappear." 

* From My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold, Wordsworth, Com- 
plete Works, Globe edition, p. 171. 



THE CHILD WORLD 15 

for life is a developing process, and the joy and worth of 
one moment is dependent in no small measure upon its 
relation to the preceding moments and the use that has 
been made of those. This is well expressed in the doc- 
trine of 'Karma/ which holds that the possibility of life 
at any point is the net resultant of all the actions and 
experiences that precede. Each moment is a new oppor- 
tunity to live, but our power to utilize it depends upon what 
we have done in all the yesterdays. Apart from any 
theory of reincarnation, this statement may be much 
widened in meaning if we consider the relation of one life, 
through heredity, to those that precede and follow it. 
How much of both our power and weakness is due to this 
relation to the past; and while each life is an end in itself, 
we regard that individual as highly immoral who does not 
govern his own life in harmony with the good of all the 
descendants who follow him. Thus there was a certain 
Tightness in the mediaeval view of the relation of time and 
eternity. The individual life in this world loses its mean- 
ing unless it is lived in harmony with the whole of life, 
whatever that is regarded to be.^ 

Thus there are two balancing principles, each of which 
must be obeyed in harmony with the other. The present 
moment should be full and satisfying, yet in harmony with 
the best for all the moments that follow. Each phase of 

' Compare Froebel, The Education of Man, translated by Hail- 
mann, p. 27: 

"It is highly pernicious to consider the stages of human develop- 
ment — infant, child, boy or girl, youth or maiden, man or woman, 
old man or matron — as really distinct, and not, as life shows them, 
as continuous in themselves, in unbroken transitions; highly per- 
nicious to consider the child or boy as something wholly different 
from the youth or man, and as something so distinct that the com- 
mon foundation (human being) is seen but vaguely in the idea and 
word, and scarcely at all considered in life and for life." 



16 MORAL EDUCATION 

life should have its own value, yet prepare for those suc- 
ceeding. And so we should keep the child's life joyous 
and in itself worth while, yet bring it into unison with the 
whole of life and make it prepare naturally for the most 
happy and effective manhood and womanhood. Nor are 
these principles opposed; on the contrary it is impossible 
to fulfill one on a high plane without obeying the other. 
We have seen that if we miss the meaning of the phase that 
passes we fail to prepare best for the subsequent life; and 
invariably we make a wrong use of the present moment 
when it is out of harmony with the whole. This, indeed, 
is one of the best tests for distinguishing false pleasure 
from true joy. A brutal intoxication may seem pleasur- 
able for the time, but it as completely destroys the real 
worth of the moment as it separates the part from sane 
relation to the whole of life. Let me repeat: one of the 
best tests of the worth of the moment is that it prepare 
rationally for what follows; while one of the best ways of 
measuring the preparation is to estimate the growth, joy 
and worth of the present life. This point of view is funda- 
mental in the chapters that follow. 



II 

THE UNITY OF HUMAN LIFE 

The most important fact in education is that we are 
dealing always with a world of persons. Whatever aim 
we set before ourselves can be realized only in personality. 
It is this that makes it impossible for true education ever 
to become a mechanical process. As we are concerned 
with persons, and must seek to form them in harmony 
with some ideal, there will always be an element of the 
unpredicted and incalculable that no system can organize. 
It is the most promising mark in the ' new education ' that 
the heart of the whole movement is a deeper reverence for 
persons. Thus it is of first importance that we should see 
the nature and characteristics of the personal world. 

The fact that we make any educational effort at all 
implies a recognition of one basal truth with reference to 
personality, namely, the likeness of one individual to all 
others in fundamental elements of life. It is solely be- 
cause one is like all, that science in dealing with personality 
is possible. If each individual were entirely new and un- 
paralleled, no body of law would be discoverable, no general 
principles could be laid down, and education would become 
mere artifice. Yet nothing is clearer than that human 
nature is law-abiding. Our recognition of this fact is the 
basis of half-a-dozen modern sciences; and most recently 
the studies of the minds of children have shown how en- 
tirely they obey great laws in their development. 



18 MORAL EDUCATION 

The possibility of any science of humanity depends upon 
the fact that Hfe is universal in its nature, being made of 
few and simple elements. There are not many great types 
of experience in human life; and most of us pass through 
them all in some form. Birth and death, love, work, 
hunger to see truth and appreciate beauty, struggle and 
joy, failure and suffering: these are the characteristic 
aspects of life common to all men. Consider how few are 
the problems upon which all novels and dramas rest. 
Half at least of these works of art deal with the adjustment 
of one personality to another, in love; while the rest treat 
the struggle in the vocation, the effort for culture, or the 
problem of religious faith. Each human being begins at 
the beginning and must travel over much of the same path 
of life as all others. We come out of the dark into the 
light; we live a little while in a dream-world, where all 
forms and shapes seem larger than they are and life is 
transfigured by a golden or gray atmosphere; we pass from 
play that is an imitation of life to a vigorous awakening of 
personality in the serious business of living; we find or 
sorrowfully fail to find our work; we form a few personal 
relations that bring us unguessed joy and pain; we travel 
some way down the hill of life, while the visions of the great 
world drop away more and more, as we draw toward the 
shadowy valley of ebbing memories that dims to the night; 
and so we pass again into the gloom. The story may be 
shortened, syncopated; the end may be in any scene, and 
whole chapters may be blotted out; but how much the 
same it is for all! 

It is this unity of the human spirit that makes life centre 
in each individual in every place in the world. How often 
as one travels in a railway train and passes some straggling 



THE UNITY OF HUMAN LIFE 19 

group of houses huddled together with a few trees, in the 
midst of a dreary plain or in some lonely valley shut in by 
the hills, one feels that life would be impossible in such a 
place. We feel that we should suffocate were we doomed 
to live there, cut off from the great world, with no sense of 
the sweep of its forces. But go to such a place for one 
week, and how utterly the feeling changes. Nearly every- 
thing in human life is there. Not only love and work, 
ambition and failure, but relations that ramify to the last 
corner of the earth. Look into the post-bag and see where 
the letters are to go and whence they come, and you begin 
to realize that the village is a nerve-centre, a little one it is 
true, not a great central brain like New York or London, 
but a true centre nevertheless, from which ramify nerves of 
connection, motor and sensor, throughout the human world. 
Thus life becomes not only endurable but intensely inter- 
esting, in the most isolated community, when once these 
nerves of communication are established for the individual. 
Indeed, if one be not awakened to the need of the larger 
world-life, the unity of human experiences and the vivid- 
ness with which they are realized in limited environment 
may give the local community a charm to the native 
dweller that no vaster centre can equal. I remember the 
story told me by a merchant of Florence who employed 
seventy-five expert wood-carvers in Prato, ten miles away. 
He suggested to the foreman that the workmen should 
move with their families to Florence and thus be in closer 
touch with the business, with a saving of expense to all con- 
cerned. "Oh, that would be impossible," the foreman 
replied, "our men are all campanilisti;" that is, they 
would die of homesickness if they tried to live out of sight 
of the bell-tower of Prato! Of course such an incident 



20 MORAL EDUCATION 

is characteristic of Italy rather than America today; but 
it serves to show in extreme form how completely life cen- 
tres in the little place for the one who has established the 
relations of his personality there. 

Everyone who has gone up and down the Third Avenue 
Elevated in New York must have looked pityingly into the 
windows of the cheap lodging-houses the train passes, at 
the forlorn groups of shipwrecked men, huddled in winter 
about the one stove that heats the putrid air of the loung- 
ing-room. How lost they seem — stranded here on the 
edge of things for a moment, before they are swept down 
in the pitiless but all-hiding sea. Yet could we enter the 
consciousness of any one of them we should find that each 
is the centre of a world as important to him as any other's 
world can be to that other. Here is a whole network of 
relations ramifying in all directions, ambitions broken or 
half-fulfilled, service of some loved one, disappointment in 
failure, grief at death or separation, faint reaching toward 
larger hope, and dumb brooding over the dark mystery of 
it all: life is absolute in meaning to each man who lives. 

The charm of many a novel of the hour, dealing with 
out-of-the-way lives, is in its revelation of this fact that all 
life centres in each one. I take an illustration at random : 
The Biography of a Prairie Girl, by Eleanor Gates. ^ 
A simple story of a little girl growing up on a remote 
Dakota farm; nothing unusual in it: merely affection for 
mother and brothers; first-hand contact with a rude nature 
world, now kindly, now treacherous; intense desire for 
knowledge and thirst for humanity: yet how it brings the 
tears to one's eyes and stirs the pulses with the thrill of the 
common wonder of human life. 

» The Century Co., New York, 1902. 



THE UNITY OF HUMAN LIFE 21 

One is like all, life is a unity, humanity is much the same 
in all its expressions. This, indeed, has been the cry of the 
pessimist everywhere. It is because "there is no new thing 
under the sun," that life seems to him such a vanity and 
weariness. The same round is repeated over and over 
again. ^ We must accept this premise of the pessimist, 
but we need not accept his conclusion. On the contrary, 
this likeness of one to all is the sole basis of our under- 
standing each other. Without it, there would be no 
possibility of converting the experience of one into terms 
of another's life. Thought, emotion and will are known 
only in thinking, feeling and doing. We divine in another 
an activity we know already in ourselves, by recognizing 
external signs of it with which we are familiar. 

Thus we can understand only that to which we are re- 
lated. Mathematicians tell us that a world might exist in 
space of two or four dimensions; and they prove their 
ability to construct a system of mathematics for such a 

* "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: 
but the earth abideth forever. 

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his 
place where he arose. 

The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the 
north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again 
according to his circuits. 

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the 
place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. 

All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not 
satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which 
is done is that which shall be done : and there is no new thing under 
the sun. 

Is there anything whereof it may be said. See, this is new? it hath 
been already of old time, which was before us." — Ecclesiastes, chapter 
I, verses 4-10. 



22 MORAL EDUCATION 

world. ^ We can conceive the possibility of it, but we can- 
not imagine life in it; for were there such a world, it would 
be non-existent for us, since we are built on the plan of 
space in three dimensions. 

I once knew a man who had apparently no ear for music. 
Possessing every opportunity for travel and culture, he 
resented the fact that others enjoyed what was a closed 
world to him. So he set to work to study music from the 
ground up. He became so expert that he could take to 
pieces a Wagner opera and recompose its motifs. He 
enjoyed hearing such an opera rendered; but his pleasure 
involved scarcely any appreciation of music. It was the 
pleasure accompanying the intellectual process of analysis 
and synthesis, the kind of joy one has in working a difficult 
problem in calculus; but the man remained almost as 
deaf to music as before he undertook the course of training. 
I realize that the illustration is inadequate, but it is the best 
I can give to show that all appreciation of the experience 
of other persons comes through reducing it to the common 
basis from which they and we alike spring. We interpret 
other lives in terms of our own, that is, in terms of the 
universal element in our own. 

So all appreciation of literature, all reading of history 

* Compare C. H. Hinton, The Recognition of the Fourth DiTuen- 
sion, Bulletin number XIV, pp. 179-204, of the Washington 
Philosophical Society, published by the Society, Washington, 1902. 
Mr. Hinton's paper shows the impossibility of imagining and the 
difficulty of conceiving a fourth dimension of space. 

Compare also E. Jouffret, Traite EUmentaire de Geometrie a 
Quatre Dimensions et Introduction a la Geometrie a n Dimensions. 
Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1903. 

An interesting little book called Flatland; A Roviance of Many 
Dimensions, By a Square, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1899, 
attempts to imagine life in space of two dimensions and incidentally 
contains much bright satire on human life. 



THE UNITY OF HUMAN LIFE 23 

depends upon this unity of human Hfe. This is Emerson's 
constant thought, expressed in his greatest essays, as those 
on the Over-Soul and History.^ 

" I am the owner of the sphere. 
Of the seven stars and the solar year. 
Of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain. 
Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakespeare's strain." ^ 

I am the owner of all this because the potentiality of 
humanity is wrapped up in each individual. Give us time 
enough and opportunity enough, and all that man has done 
is our possibility. We may not be able today to think 
Plato's thought, create Shakespeare's Hamlet, or live with 
the moral sublimity of Lincoln; but give us eternity and 
infinite opportunity, and there is no limit to our possible 
growth in these directions. 

Thus the first truth in regard to the human personality 
is that one is like all, life is made of simple elements and 
its great experiences are common, each person is a kind 
of epitome of humanity, able therefore to appreciate the 
lives of others. 



' " Of the universal mind each individual man is one more incar- 
nation. All its properties consist in him. Each new fact in his pri- 
vate experience flashes a light on what great bodies of men have 
done, and the crises of his life refer to national crises." — Emerson, 
Essays, First Series, p. 10. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1883. 

^ Emerson, stanza prefixed to the Essay on History. 



Ill 

THE UNIQUENESS OF EACH PERSONALITY 

I HAVE pointed out how easily we may be led astray by 
a half-truth; and the phase of the personal world we have 
been studying gives us just such a partial view. It is true 
that human life is a unity, that one is like all, but it is 
equally true that each person is in some measure unlike 
any other that ever was or ever will be. If the elements 
are simple and universal, the form they take is unique 
in each individual. Indeed, this principle holds of 
all life. Each form in the organic world is unique. 
No two leaves upon a tree are identical; no two animals 
with the same ancestry are just alike. The element of 
variation, the unexplained basis of evolution, shows in 
every life. No matter how thoroughly we may know the 
parents, it is never possible to predict the exact character 
of the offspring of any two organisms. The new life is a 
fresh combination of old forces, unlike any other. In 
human life this law reaches its highest expression. No 
two persons have just the same heredity, environment, 
experience. We must all struggle with the same problems, 
but there is infinite variety in the form they take. How 
rarely in practice can we find a rule to fit a particular case; 
we may discover the principle, but this must be given 
fresh application. 

As the likeness of one to all makes possible our under- 



THE UNIQUENESS OF EACH PERSONALITY 25 

standing of each other, so the uniqueness of each per- 
sonahty is the source of the freshness and interest of hfe. 
Here again Nature is our teacher. She is always original, 
because she never strives for the false originality of nov- 
elty. She does not ask: " Can I afford to make the grass 
green and the skies blue another year? Shall I risk 
another season of violets ? " The same old elements are 
used over and over again, yet each life is born as freshly 
out of the old as if no such life had ever been in all the ages 
that are behind. The sun glorifies the new day as if the 
sun had never shone before. The wild-flowers of this 
springtime do not blush that wild-flowers have covered 
the earth for innumerable springs that have gone. And 
so every element of beauty in Nature is new, original and 
unparalleled. 

In proportion to the vigor and reality of life is the same 
quality true of humanity. Life is original in every ex- 
pression, and the problems we must meet are as if they had 
never been tried before. Our struggle is no less absorb- 
ing because men have struggled with the same kind of 
diflSculties for so long. Our love means no less to us 
because love is so universal a fact of life. Grief stalks into 
our chamber with just as awful a power as if grief were 
not common to all. Indeed, 

"Common is the commonplace, 
And vacant chaff and empty grain," * 

on the part of those who would comfort us in our sorrow 
by pointing to the universality of the experience. Such 
comfort merely insults our grief; and the people who offer 
* Tennyson, In Memoriam, canto VI. 



26 MORAL EDUCATION 

it cannot really have lived. Byron answers them in that 
exquisite elegy, where he says: 

"Away! we know that tears are vain, 
That Death nor heeds nor hears distress: 
Will this unteach us to complain ? 
Or make one mourner weep the less ? 
And thou, who tell'st me to forget, 
Thy looks are wan, thine eyes are wet." ^ 

Turn again to the Bowery lodging-house dwellers: not 
only is the same humanity present in every one, but the 
world of each is unique. All may be hungry and cold and 
broken, but the particular range of problems and relations 
each must meet is unparalleled in the life of any other. 

So with the literature that reflects and interprets life. 
We have seen how common are its problems, how few and 
universal its elements. Yet if the last work be true to 
life and born freshly out of the heart and brain of a real 
man, it is new and appeals to us as if its problems had never 
been met before. Consider such a poem as the Ulysses 
of Stephen Phillips. How few are its emotions, and these 
as old as humanity. Moreover, the author has dared to 
take Homer, whom we all know, and relate again part of a 
story as old as Europe and familiar to every school-boy. 
Yet how new and all-powerful it is! "There are but few 
great things in the world, and they are all here," exclaimed 
my friend as we finished reading the poem aloud together. 
And indeed they are all here: hunger for wife and child 
and home, struggle with the lust of selfish desire, manly 

* From Oh, Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom, in Hebrew 
Melodies. 



THE UNIQUENESS OF EACH PERSONALITY 27 

conflict with the exigencies of a despotic fortune — the great 
elements of life, old as humanity, simple as childhood, are 
there. Yet when we hear Ulysses cry : 

"Ah God! that I might see 
Gaunt Ithaca stand up out of the surge, 
You lashed and streaming rocks, and sobbing crags, 

***** 
I am an-hungered for that human breast 
That bosom a sweet hive of memories — 
There, there to lay my head before I die. 
There, there to be, there only, there at last!"; ^ 

or hear him tell how, from the shore of Calypso's Island, 
he 

" looked o'er the wide sea, 
And softly said, 'Little Telemachus'," ^ 

the tears come to our own eyes and we thrill to the old, ever 
new story of personal life. 

"There is no new thing under the sun;" yes, and 
there is nothing under the sun that is not new, fresh- 
born out of the Infinite, unique, unparalleled by any 
other life. These are the two balancing truths with refer- 
ence to the human personality, each of which must be inter- 
preted in harmony with the other if we are to have a true 
perspective in dealmg with human beings. 

Because each is unique, there is an unavoidable element 
of experiment in all human life. There can be no mechan- 

^ Stephen Phillips, Ulysses, act I, scene II, pp. 65-66. The Mac- 
millan Co., New York, 1902. 
^ Ibid., act III, scene I, p. 131. 



28 MORAL EDUCATION 

ical application of rules to the exigencies of experience. 
Life continually presents unexpected situations and com- 
binations of old elements that cannot be predicted. If we 
wait to know how to live before we begin, we never begin. 
The man who does not choose his vocation until he knows 
all about the different callings and their relation to his 
personality dies without finding his work. If we wait to 
know all the laws of personal relationship before making 
friends, we live friendless. All we dare ask is to have light 
enough to see the next step, and then we must take that 
step bravely, trusting that if we do, the light will still 
be one step in advance. 

" Here work enough to watch 
The Master work, and catch 
Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true play." ^ 

Indeed, some of the saddest tragedies are those of people 
who have not quite dared to live. Such a tragedy of nega- 
tion is in the life of that sensitive poet-philosopher Amiel, 
whose Journal even in its English dress has become a 
classic, expressing as it does the extreme of a peculiar 
type of experience. Amiel was a professor at the univer- 
sity of Geneva, yet he never dared teach his own life 
to his students, and so he read over year after year a dull 
routine of philosophical lectures, and the students never 
dreamed that under the shell of the scholastic professor 
was a live man, hungering for love and truth, yet not quite 
daring to live. Even Amiel's personal friends, who 
thought themselves his intimates, never knew him until 
the publication of his Journal after his death. They had 

' Browning, Rabhi Ben Ezra, stanza XVIII. 



THE UNIQUENESS OF EACH PERSONALITY 29 

supposed him cold, but in reading the pages of his Journal 
they discovered that whenever a friendship was budding 
between Amiel and another, he was so conscious of all the 
ways in which he might disappoint the friend, or the friend 
disappoint him, that he nipped the friendship in the bud.^ 
It is a way of existing safely, but life is never safe. It 
may be very safe to be dead; but in proportion to the 
vitality and depth of the individual spirit will life be un- 
safe. The more vigorous the blood that courses through 
the veins, the larger the ambition, the more tense the 
aspiration that stirs the heart, the less safe life will be, 
for the greater is the element of the unexpected and incal- 
culable that will enter into it. As long as we stay moored 
to the regular shore of negative respectability and conven- 
tionality we are safe. When we set sail on the untried 
ocean of life, with only the stars of God and the compass 
of our own instinct to guide us, there will be days and 
nights when the heaven is clouded and we cannot see the 
stars, and the compass of our instinct may point any other 
way than toward the north star; and then we sail wrong. 
But unless we set sail we reach no port worth while. 
Thus education, seeking to mold personality, has to 

^ The following is typical of many passages expressing Amiel's 
self-analysis : 

"Family life, especially, in aU its delightfulness, in all its moral 
depth, appeals to me almost like a duty. Sometimes I cannot 
escape from the ideal of it. A companion of my life, of my work, 
of my thoughts, of my hopes; within, a common worship, towards 
the world outside, kindness and beneficence; educations to under- 
take, the thousand and one moral relations which develop round the 
first — all these ideas intoxicate me sometimes. But I put them 
aside, because every hope is, as it were, an egg whence a serpent may 
issue instead of a dove, because every joy missed is a stab; because 
every seed confided to destiny contains an ear of grief which the 
future may develop." — Amiel's Journal, translated by Mrs. Hum- 
phry Ward, vol. I, pp. 18-19. The Macrnillan Co., New York, 1896. 



30 MORAL EDUCATION 

deal not only with law-abiding material, with certain ele- 
ments common to all life, but with an element of the un- 
tried and incalculable resulting from the unique character 
of each personality. Hence education must be both 
science and art. It must discover those general laws 
resulting from the likeness of one to all, but it must ever 
recognize that science should flower out into art, since 
each child is unique in personality. Teaching, like living, 
is an art, to be learned only in practice, involving the con- 
stant adjustment of one personality to others irregularly 
changing. That is why experience counts for so much 
with the teacher. No normal school or university in- 
struction can compensate for the lack of direct contact 
with children and of the concrete insight developing from 
such contact. 

If either one of the balancing principles is forgotten the 
result is failure. In education if we recognize only the 
science that depends on the likeness of one to all, the re- 
sult is dead routine, an effort to cut all children after one 
pattern, destructive formalism. If we realize that teaching 
must be an art, but fail to base it upon science, we lose all 
guiding principles, fall into an excessive individualism 
where art becomes artifice, and thus work from one thing 
to the next without aim or reason, causing the school to 
disintegrate. 

The two types of failure are perhaps equally complete, 
but one is much more common historically than the other. 
Extreme individualism is so obviously failure that it tends 
to correct itself; but by resting on those elements that are 
common to all, we are able to grind out a certain mechan- 
ical result which can be estimated at the end of the pro- 
cess; and so the failure may pass unrecognized, or even be 



THE UNIQUENESS OF EACH PERSONALITY 31 

estimated as success. Thus the relatively constant fail- 
ure in education has been the tendency to dead formalism, 
v/hile the other error has appeared only sporadically. 
Therefore we must seek especially to reverence the per- 
sonality of each child and to foster its natural grov/th. 
It is necessary to base the individual on the great moral 
principles common to all men, and to integrate him with 
humanity by leading him through its generic experiences; 
but with this unity in our aim, we must see to it that each 
child becomes an independent person, free and intelligent 
in self-control, and is thus equipped for the art of living. 



IV 

THE GROWTH-PROCESS OF HUMAN LIFE 

I HAVE assumed that human Hfe is a developing process, 
as is universally conceded today; we are now ready to 
consider the nature of that process as influencing our work 
in education. It is to biology we owe the elaboration and 
modern statement of the idea of evolution which has trans- 
formed every department of our thinking, including our 
attitude toward children. The moment we recognize that 
growth is not mechanical change, but the unfolding of a 
higher phase of life out of a lower one, the passing from one 
plane of action to another, we have a conception that must 
affect everything we try to do in education. Obviously 
the study of the adult will not enable us to prescribe food 
and stimuli for the mind of the child; each phase in the 
process must be studied for itself, and educational influ- 
ences adjusted to its specific needs. 

This problem would be less difficult if the process were 
a smooth and regular one; but the development of per- 
sonality never goes on simply in a straight line. Now 
one element, now another, may spring suddenly into active 
being. A brief time of rapid advance may be followed 
by a long period when the elements unfolded may have 
time quietly to establish themselves. Recent studies of 
the physical development of children have shown how 



TEE GROWTH-PROCESS OF HUMAN LIFE 33 

irregular is growth in that field/ and the same unevenness 
is present in the mental and moral life. Here a world of 
irregular movements is evident, now one, now another 
element of personality asserting itself, until the whole 
growth-process becomes a maze of acting and reacting 
forces. It is this that makes the educational problem so 
perplexingly difficult as sometimes to lead us to despair 
of its solution. Not only must every child be dealt with 
as an individual, but every phase of his growth must be 
treated individually. The first question in education is, 
Where is the child now; and until this has been asked 
and answered there is no use in raising any other. 

If, however, mental and moral development is irregular, 
it is none the less law-abiding. Though each individual, 
as I have shown, is unique in his expression of the common 
elements of life, still the mass of irregular movements falls 
into certain clearly marked periods. This is due to that 
far-reaching law of rhythm which applies to all life and 
possibly to all movement. Spencer attempts to show that 
motion in every phase of the inorganic world, from the 
formation of a crystal to the evolution of a solar system, 
is regulated by rhythm.^ Whether this be accepted or 
not, certainly all life is ruled by this law. The great bio- 
logical types would seem to have been developed in com- 
paratively brief periods, while following these, long ages 

* See the somewhat popular review of the facts of irregular 
physical growth in chapters II and III of Dr. Oppenheim's Physical 
Development of the Child. 

President Hall's recent great work on Adolescence contains the 
most vast and thorough collection of facts in this connection that 
has yet been made. Compare especially chapters I and II for data 
illustrating irregularities in physical development. 

- See Spencer, First Princn.ples, chapter X. D. Appleton & Co., 
Kew York, 1878. 



34 MORAL EDUCATION 

were required to establish the types. A forward leap 
followed by an extended period of quiescence, such has 
been apparently the law of movement in the evolution of 
organic life. 

Unquestionably this is the principle ruling in human 
history. Throughout the past, epochs of production and 
epochs of preparation, periods of rapid advance and periods 
of slow incubation, ages of faith and quiet acceptance and 
ages of unquiet doubt and investigation, — these have alter- 
nated. It is interesting, too, to note how very brief rela- 
tively are the periods of production and expansion. The 
crowning time of the Periclean age in Greece, of the re- 
naissance in Italy, of the Elizabethan age in England, is in 
each case measured by less than a hundred years; while 
each of these epochs is preceded and followed by a long age 
of preparation and incubation. Ebb and flow in the tides 
of life: ten centuries of Christian aspiration and one of 
pagan reaction, the sleep of the middle ages and the 
awakening of modern life, the old regime and the French 
revolution — everywhere the law holds of the movements 
of human history^the inspiration and expiration of the 
breath of life, the beating of the universal heart. 

It is this law which applies to the development of per- 
sonality. In the mass of seemingly irregular movements 
that characterize the growth of the individual spirit, it is 
possible to trace the ebb and flow in the tides of life. 
Times of sudden awakening and times of quiet expression, 
periods of forward movement and periods of quiescence 
are present here as in the history of the human race, the 
evolution of organic life, and perhaps in the formation of 
the universe of stars. 

Viewed in a large way childhood and maturity represent 



THE GROWTH-PROCESS OF HUMAN LIFE 35 

the two types: the one the age of rapid growth, the other 
the period of quiet estabhshing of the forces of life with 
ordered expression. Yet each of these breaks up into 
numerous lesser units of one and the other type. Indeed, 
in direct proportion to the vitality and growth of the indi- 
vidual will such ebb and flood tides be present. The 
abortive life, early hardening down into fixed lines, the life 
smothered by convention and negative respectability, may 
show little of them; but the spirit full of human poten- 
tiality, coming ever into wider relation with the great 
world, thirsting for life and continuing to grow even into 
old age, will show a large number of clearly marked move- 
ments of action and reaction. 

Thus such movements instead of deserving our suspicion 
and efforts at suppression should be welcomed and under- 
stood. That absolute regularity which is the ideal of the 
pedant is an indication of the choking of the forces of life; 
and the irregular movement to and fro, so disconcerting 
to our plans and so thwarting to the success of our pre- 
arranged system of culture, is the highest and should be 
the most welcome indication of the life which it is the pur- 
pose of education to foster.^ 

We are yet far from understanding even the typical 
periods that appear normally in personal development, 
but we have learned to see how important it is to strive to 

^ "The law of nascent periods, or the age curve of growth of each 
organ or faculty, is one of the first desiderata of genetic psychology ; 
how to apply it, by what means and to what degree to stimulate 
each part in its stage of most and least rapid growth, and how to 
apportion training of mind and body between developing the powers 
that excel to a degree of specialized culture that corresponds to 
their hereditary possibilities, or educating the weakest parts and 
powers in order to improve proportion and S5anmetry, is one of the 
chief problems of individual pedagogy." — G. Stanley Hall, Ado- 
lescence, vol. I, p. 128. 



36 MORAL EDUCATION 

understand them. Any one which we can clearly recog- 
nize will serve to illustrate how completely the educational 
problem centres in understanding the particular phase of 
development the individual has reached. 

For instance, there seems to be in many children a 
definite period of subsidence in mental growth about the 
eighth year. This by no means appears clearly in the 
lives of all children, but so frequently as to be more 
than an individual variation. The child who has been 
going forward rapidly, suddenly becomes stupid, careless 
of study and irresponsive to stimulus. And what is the 
result? The fond parent who is vain of the child's ability 
and the teacher who is ambitious for results unite to crowd 
the child on. Stimulus is multiplied at home and at school. 
The parent tells the teacher the child has done well in 
preceding rooms and there is no reason why he cannot do 
as well now. The teacher's pride is hurt and energies 
are redoubled to push the child forward. In other words 
everything possible is done to force the child across the 
period of retarded growth at the same speed shown in the 
time of most rapid and expansive forward movement. 

But now suppose that this period of quiet incubation is 
nature's provision for gathering slowly together the ener- 
gies of life for the great forward leap in the period of transi- 
tion from childhood to youth: what have we done? 
Crowded sail, only to crack the mainmast and strain the 
ship; forced the steam until the engine of life is perhaps 
permanently disabled.^ How many over nervous and 

' President Hall (Adolescence, vol. I, p. 44) rejects the theory 
that the period of retarded growth occurring between the eighth 
and twelfth year means a husbanding of force for a later forward 
"lovement, and attempts to explain the retardation on the basis of 
v.ice history. The educational application is the same, however. 



THE GROWTH-PROCEaS OF HUMAN LIFE 37 

morbid children, drifting in a sickly way through the 
period of transition, unable to respond to the appeal 
of that epoch of life and come forth into bounding 
manhood and womanhood, are sad memorials to the 
successful gratification of the vanity of parent and 
teacher. Suppose the child should even drop out of 
school for a time and revert to mud pies and sand 
houses, forgetting his arithmetic and letting his soul sleep 
in a calm physical life like an unawakened seed in the soil 
— what then ? This : that a month of such a child's time 
later may be worth a year of the over-strained child's; that 
acquirements in arithmetic and grammar are poor tests of 
the worth of life. Too often when the child who has been 
allowed to sleep his two years, if necessary, strides ahead 
of his neighbor who has never missed a school day, nor 
even an evening's study at home, we regard it as unusual 
talent and anomalous. How much genius is simply 
health! And how genius might be multiplied if we let 
Nature take us into her confidence and followed the open 
secret that broods over the spring flowers. 

Take another example: about nine or ten or eleven 
most children pass into an awkward age which to the 
unsympathetic observer is most disagreeable. The growth 
is irregular and the feet and hands are too large for the 
body. The child, too, is just becoming conscious of them 
and keeps them well in the foreground — not only of his 
consciousness, but of the stage of the domestic and social 
life. In the same way his words are too big for his ideas 
and the dawning mental life expresses itself in the same 
awkward way as the physical. And thus we, who for years 
have been taking the child into the drawing-room to show 
him off to strangers, now send him out of the room with a 



38 MORAL EDUCATION 

sharp word or, worse, a sarcastic reference to his awkward- 
ness. It is not his fault that he wants to display himself: 
we have taught him that; until now he comes noisily into 
the room with the high-pitched voice and disagreeable 
behavior that children use to attract attention, and is 
irritating enough to us. But as it was our vanity that dis- 
played the younger child, so it is our vanity that is hurt 
now; and if for once we were to follow, not the whim of our 
pleasure, but the good of the child, ought not our treatment 
of him to be opposite in both cases? The young child, 
so endlessly attractive to us because of the mysterious 
dawning of the soul we behold in him, needs nothing else 
so much as to be left alone to establish quietly the roots of 
his being in the soil of affection. Instead of jigging him till 
his nervous system is exhausted, displaying him to all 
comers, and compelling him to go over and over his small 
vocabulary of baby words, we should restrain our vanity 
and let him lie much of the time in the lap of his nurse. 
Nature. While, on the other hand, the child in the 
awkward age needs nothing else so much as companion- 
ship with us and guidance and sympathy through the period 
of bungling expression until one of natural and ordered life 
is reached. The child who is over conscious of his hands 
and feet will not be made sweetly unconscious by sarcasm, 
and sharp suppression will hardly turn awkward words 
into natural and beautiful self-expression.^ 

Not only that: the very awkwardness is a clue to the 
needed lessons. With the first consciousness of personality 
the child has no sense of proportion and is irritatingly 
aggressive in the assertion of opinion. All parents know 

^ See the chapter on Ugly DuckUngs, in Short Studus in Char- 
acter^ by Sophie Bryant, pp. 173-186. 



THE GROWTH-PROCESS OF HUMAN LIFE 39 

the case: "Now, Mamma, you think you said so, but I 
KNOW you didn't," The temptation is to suppress the 
child as vigorously as possible; and there is no doubt that 
impudence must be suppressed — for the child's sake. 
Yet the child who says just that annoying thing is ready 
to recognize for the first time that two people may come 
to diametrically opposite opinions, and both be earnest and 
intelligent. The true lesson of toleration can now be 
taught. Hitherto we might have preached about it 
incessantly and the child could not have understood; 
now it is possible to develop in him that respect 
for the personality and opinions of others that gives pro- 
portion and beauty to intellectual relationship. Indeed, 
one may go beyond this: the child is also ready to under- 
stand that of the two in dispute the right is probably with 
the one of larger experience: 'probably, not certainly, for 
sometimes the child is right and the parent wrong. Such 
cases do arise, and a little modesty will not lessen the 
parental dignity. 

These examples out -of the multitude that might be given 
must serve to show how all-important is the law of periodi- 
city in relation to child life. The problem of education is 
not to lead the personality along such a process as can be 
represented by a straight line, but to seek to understand 
the different periods of development and adapt our educa- 
tional influences to the successive phases of movement 
througk which the personality passes. This must be 
achieved both generally and individually. It is necessary 
to understand the typical phases in the growth of mind and 
spirit through which all children tend to pass, and also, 
among the innumerable modifications of these, those pre- 
sented by the specific children with whom we must deal. 



V 
THE TWO PRINCIPLES OF MORAL EVOLUTION 

The law of periodicity applies to every phase of human 
development. I wish to consider more nearly the aspects 
of moral growth that most concern us in education. 
There are two principles conditioning growth in this field 
for the individual and the race alike. The first is, the 
gradual substitution of an integrating end of conduAit, for 
the mere fidl or push of desire, as the cause of action. If 
we turn to the animal world we find action occurring 
largely as the immediate expression of desire. The brute 
is hungry, it seeks and slays its food, and lies down in the 
sleep of satiety. Where the satisfaction of immediate 
desire is postponed, this is usually due to instincts which 
have been established by ages of biological selection, and 
rarely indicates conscious reason. Primitive man must 
have been largely upon the same plane, as is evident from 
the lowest races today. The whole history of mankind 
in this aspect is the record of the steady growth of obe- 
dience to a rationalizing aim, as against the immediate 
response to the whim of desire or the inhibition of the latter 
merely through blind instinct. 

The importance of this is evident when we see that action 
is rationalized and unified by being directed consciously 
toward some aim. Even a lower purpose, such as seeking 
the accumulation of wealth, will lead a man to forego 



THE TWO PRINCIPLES OP MOKAL EVOLUTION 41 

countless pleasures and deny whole ranges of natural 
desire. Thus his days are organized into what is relatively 
a unity even though the end is unworthy. The higher the 
aim the more complete will' be the resulting unity and 
rationality of the life. 

It is evident that in this race progress we are still far 
indeed from the conclusion. With the majority of human 
beings, much of the time, action is still due to the accident 
of desire in the moment, or to instincts, without the regula- 
tion of conscious reason. Yet surely we can see what the 
end of the process would be : life so wholly devoted to one 
supreme end that all momentary desires would be affirmed 
or denied according as they were or were not in harmony 
with the dominant aim; and thus the whole life would be 
made one rational unity. This does not mean that desire 
and instinct would ever cease to be springs of action, but 
only that they would be brought completely under the 
regulation of reason. 

The process that is evident in the life of the race is re- 
peated in the individual. The baby is hungry and cries 
for food ; he eats aiid sleeps. The little child affirms each 
desire as it comes, except as he is restrained by other per- 
sons. Only very slowly are we able to lead children to 
postpone or deny their desires, and so to help them to 
obey significant aims. In its more intellectual aspect the 
chief work of moral education is to do just this, until in 
the end the individual is made wisely and consistently 
obedient to the highest aim he can see. 

The importance of this phase of moral development is 
shown in the fact that when the mature life renounces all 
reasonable aims and gives itself over to the immediate 
gratification of capricious desire, it degenerates into what 



42 MORAL EDUCATION 

is immoral instead of non-moral as with the undeveloped 
life. Goethe has made a study of this problem in Faust. 
Mephistopheles is "the spirit that denies." Intellectually 
he represents the scoffing denial of all reason in the uni- 
verse; but practically he becomes the guide to the life of 
careless sensuality. In this Gpethe means to show that 
the worst form of denial is not in the intellect, but in living 
as if there were no reason or law in the universe, and so 
seeking to satisfy merely the changing caprice of the mo- 
ment. As the degenerate life is always repulsive, while the 
yet undeveloped is innocent, Faust's irrational living is as 
ugly as capricious childhood is charming. Mephistopheles 
is therefore right in exclaiming: 

"Verachte nur Vernunft und Wissenschaft, 
Des Menschen allerhochste Kraft, 
Lass nur in Blend- und Zauberwerken 
Dich von dem Liigengeist bestiirken, 
So hab' ich dich schon unbedingt;" ^ 

for Faust's abandonment of all reasonable aims is an 
abrogation for himself of one of the most precious fruits 
of moral evolution. 

Thus mor^l education must lead the child through the 
natural process of growth in substituting an aim of con- 
duct for the pressure of desire. As all development is 
irregular, so the ebb and flow in the tides of the moral life 

* Faust, part I, scene IV; in Bayard Taylor's translation: 
Reason and Knowledge only thou despise, 
The highest strength in man that lies! 
Let but the Lying Spirit bind thee 
With magic works and shows that blind thee. 
And I shall have thee fast and sure!" 



THE TWO PRINCIPLES OF MORAL EVOLUTION 43 

give US certain periods when the awakening to the great 
aims of Kfe proceeds at a rapid rate. It is our business 
as educators to watch for these precious times and utilize 
them to the full when they come. 

The second principle of moral evolution is the gradual 
extension of sympathy, or of the personality, over an ever- 
widening area of life, so that the individual comes to feel the 
pain and joy of all other lives as somewhat like his own. 
In the race this process begins far below the human plane 
with the first glimmerings of instinctive motherhood. 
The mother, even the brute mother, reaches out over her 
offspring, as it were, and feels its pain or pleasure as at 
least vaguely her own. In the earliest human life this 
mutual sympathy has already loosely unified the entire 
family group. Gradually it is extended over the clan and 
the tribe. By and by it includes, though tending to be 
less intense as it expands, the nation or race; and ulti- 
mately even these limits are broken down, so that all 
humanity is gathered up in at least a dim way in the con- 
scious sympathy of the individual. 

It is needless to point out how far we are from the end 
of this process. We can take up our newspaper in the 
morning and almost hope that there has been a battle in 
China or Turkey because it makes such interesting read- 
ing. Let a flood occur a thousand miles away and our 
sympathies are touched, but let it happen with the river 
beside which we live and we are shocked almost beyond 
endurance. Differences of time and space and race still 
influence deeply the extension of our sympathy, of our 
personality , both in intensity and in reach, over other areas 
of life; yet surely we can see what the end of the process 
would be, could we attain it: a sympatJiy so fine and 



44 MORAL EDUCATION 

inclusive that the joy or sorrow of any other, existent to- 
day or to be tomorrow, would be felt as like our own. 
This would indeed be 'loving our neighbor as ourself.' 

This process of growth must also be repeated in the 
individual if he is to reach a matured moral life. Little 
children are relatively non-moral rather than moral or im- 
moral. IVIuch that we used to regard as an evidence of 
'total depravity' in them is now seen to be due to a lack of 
extension of personality over other lives. When children 
torture a younger playmate, it is rarely conscious cruelty, 
but a lack of realization that the child suffers. When a 
boy ties a tin can to a dog's tail, and then jumps with glee 
to see the dog go bounding down the street, it does not 
often mean joy in giving pain. The child has not yet 
reached out in sympathy to appreciate the dog's distress 
as something like his own. Were we not conscious that 
the dog suffered we might enjoy the sight also. The dog 
runs wildly, the tin can resounds as it strikes the stones, 
it is interesting to see what will happen next; but the pleas- 
ure we might take in the unusual spectacle is excluded by 
the fact that we are conscious of the brute's suffering. 
Obviously the cure for the boy is to weaken him to sym- 
pathy with the dog; and then, indeed, to repeat the tor- 
ture would mean malicious cruelty. 

A friend gave me recently a striking illustration of 
this principle. She said that when she and her brother 
were children they invented a very interesting game. 
About dusk they tied a dark thread from a tree at the edge 
of the sidewalk to the top of their hedge just in line with 
a man's hat. As the men were hastening home from work, 
suddenly their hats rolled in the gutter, with no apparent 
cause. The children could hardly restrain their glee 



THE TWO PRINCIPLES OF MORAL EVOLUTION 45 

sufficiently to avoid discovery. But suddenly they heard 
the step of their dearly-loved grandfather. They were 
filled with horror at the idea that his hat might roll in the 
gutter, and he be humiliated and distressed. So they 
hastened and got the thread down just in time and — it was 
never put up again. 

The meaning is plain : the children had entered into their 
grandfather's spirit so that they realized his experiences 
from within. They felt sympathetically the annoyance 
he would experience were his hat knocked off. Through 
this appreciation of the grandfather's feeling the children 
realized the experience of the men who were strangers 
to them. Thus the game could no longer be attractive 
to an unspoiled child. To continue it with a con- 
sciousness of the humiliation it caused its victims would 
have been real malice. 

Thus the problem of education, here as in the first 
aspect of moral evolution, is to lead the child on in the 
normal process of growth. The cure for the harmful 
actions that spring from a lack of sympathy with the ex- 
periences of others is, less repression of the action, than the 
wakening of an appreciation that makes the action impos- 
sible. An illustration of the power of education in thus 
influencing practical conduct is found in a field somewhat 
aside from the ordinary range of ethical problems. A de- 
cided increase in the number of song-birds has been evi- 
dent during the last ten or twenty years in certain sections 
of the country, in spite of the steady growth of population. 
The cause of this is not only the growth of park systisms, 
but much more the nature-study in our schools. Children 
have been brought into such sympathy with bird life that 
the careless robbing of nests and stoning of birds ceases 



46 MORAL EDUCATION 

to be attractive to an unspoiled child. The action that was 
non-moral becomes immoral, and its presence in an edu- 
cated child means either an unusually retarded develop- 
ment or a distinct moral [)erversion. I may add that 
much of the cruelty to animals and human weaklings on 
the part of rather childlike races should be interpreted in 
the same way. 

The growth of conscious sympathy obeys the general 
law of periodicity, advancing in irregular waves in certain 
epochs of development. In both aspects of the moral life 
education must seize upon the right moment, utilizing every 
influence to stimulate and guide a natural process of 
growth. It is therefore that the work of education seems 
so subordinate and even incidental in character. Life 
and Nature educate far more effectively than we can ever 
hope to do. To try to usurp the place of the great natural 
forces would be attempting to make the child artificially^ 
instead of helping him grow. Yet our work, if supple- 
mentary in character, is none the less important, since 
through it we can determine in a large degree the response 
of the individual to those vaster influences that come from 
life itself. It is really comparatively small margins of 
difference tliat determine success and failure in moral 
life as in all other phases of human living; and the fact 
that these margins are partly within our control gives an 
absolute importance to our work in guiding and fostering 
the natural development of children in the two great 
aspects of moral evolution. 



VI 

THE RELATION OF MORAL CULTURE TO 
OTHER ASPECTS OF EDUCATION 

So FAR we have been considering the growth-process 
of human Hfe itself, the material with which we must deal 
in education; we are now ready to define more nearly the 
problem of moral culture. The supremacy of the ethical 
interest in human life is perhaps the point of most general 
agreement among philosophers of all schools. If Aris- 
totle's argument as to the central importance of ethics 
among the sciences ^ is not accepted by all, nevertheless 
its practical import is universally recognized, since in 
human living all other problems converge upon ethical 
problems. The question as to the worth of any tool, 
equipment, skill or opportunity can be answered only by 
estimating its effect on manhood and womanhood. Our 
statement of the aim of life is always the formulation 
of our highest ethical conception. The basal laws of 
life are all moral in meaning. 

It is therefore impossible to separate conduct into two 
parts, one of which we regard as moral in import, the other 
as indifferent. Even Spencer makes the common mis- 
take of attempting this separation j^ yet the moment he 
begins to illustrate how easily actions we regard as in- 

^ See the Nicomachean Ethics, book I, chapters I and II. 

^ Compare Spencer, The Data of Ethics, chapters I, III, XVI. 



48 MORAL EDUCATION 

different may take on a moral import v/hen we consider 
their less immediate relations, his own argument implies 
that the smallest element of seemingly indifferent action 
would have an ethical significance if we considered it in 
relation to the whole of life. It is true, only a small part 
of our action is consciously moral; but it is the character- 
istic of all human conduct, conscious or unconscious, 
that it is never morally indifferent, but will always 
mean something for good or evil. Even the details of 
the physical life, eating, walking, sleeping, which have 
become largely unconscious habit, must help or hinder 
the realization of the great aims of life. Indeed, a very 
important ethical question, as we shall see in a subse- 
quent chapter, is just how far it is wise to relegate these 
activities to the control of automatism, how far there 
should be a regulating supervision on the part of our 
conscious reason. 

Thus every natural law is moral in its import the mo- 
ment we consider it in relation to the aims and welfare of 
human life. Take the simplest of natural principles, 
gravitation, the law that holds the last star-dust in place: 
it is a moral obligation on the builders of every house to 
construct it in obedience to the law of gravitation, that it 
may not fall and crush those who dwell or meet within it. 
It is the figurative obverse of this truth Wordsworth utters 
when he exclaims in the Ode to Duty: 

"Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong; 
Ajid the most ancient heavens through thee are fresh and 
strong:'* 

Carlyle touches the same truth when he says: "A false 



THE MORAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION 49 

man found a religion ? Why a false man cannot build a 
brick house. If he do not know and follow truly the prop- 
erties of mortar, burnt clay and what else he works in, 
it is no house that he makes, but a rubbish heap. * * * 
A man must conform himself to nature's laws, he verily in 
communion with nature and the truth of things, or nature 
will answer him, no not at all!" ^ 

As a further illustration of the moral import of every 
natural law the moment we consider it in connection with 
the ends of human life, take the laws of physical health, 
simple natural principles applying alike to man and other 
animals. The moment we recognize that the body is the 
temple and instrument of the mind, these laws take on a 
moral meaning. It is as much our duty to obey them as 
to be honest in business; and avoidable illness, vain as 
people are of it, is as disgraceful as any other form of 
vice. 

It is unfortunate that in English we use the word law in 
two very different senses. In the purely legal use, we 
mean by the word, a rule or principle laid down by some 
authority. In science, however, we use the word law to 
signify 'an observed order of sequence among facts.' 
Moral laws are usually mistakenly regarded as falling 
under the first head; yet while to those holding a certain 
religious belief further sanctions of morality may be super- 
added by a divine or other authority, the laws themselves 
are not so superadded, but are in the nature of life itself. 
They are the basal principles on which we are built and 
in harmony with which we must live if we would grow, 
serve, and be happy. All moral laws are natural, that is, 
they are in the nature of life; while all natural laws are 

' Caelyle, Heroes and Hero-Worship, lecture II. 



50 MORAL EDUCATION 

moral in import the moment we regard them in relation to 
the aims and welfare of human beings. 

As it is impossible to divide either conduct or law into 
two parts, one moral the other natural or indifferent in 
meaning, so is it with education. We cannot separate 
moral culture from other aspects of education, as a distinct 
part of the whole; but rather every phase of education has 
its moral import. Indeed, we may go so far as to say 
that the worth of any aspect of education can be esti- 
mated only as we find its relation to the development 
of good manhood or womanhood.^ Thus moral culture 
is the integrating centre and interpretative end in all 
education. 

Therefore physical, emotional, intellectual culture is 
good only if utilized by a good person. A strong and sup- 
ple body is a splendid instrument, but it may be used for 
bad ends as well as good. Emotional sensitiveness is so 
much capacity for life; but it may be made a means of 
decadent self-indulgence as well as a doorway to the appre- 
ciation of humanity. Intellectual and executive skill is 
power that may be used either helpfully or harmfully. 
Indeed, one of the crying evils in our own land is the extent 
to which men of great intellectual and executive ability 
are willing to use their power for purely selfish ends, some- 
times even in direct violation of the public welfare. Thus 
the greater the power and training, the more harmful to 
the social whole will be their use when directed toward 
bad ends. Plato pointed out long ago that the worst men 

^ "As the highest purpose of man, and consequently of education 
■we universally recognize morality. He who should deny this would 
not really know what morality is; at least, he would have no right 
to take part in this discussion." — Herb art, The A B C of Sense 
Perception, translated by Eckoff, p. 93. 



THE MORAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION 51 

are the corruption of those who might have been the best.^ 
The same force of personaKty that made them go far on 
the path of crime would have made them the more service- 
able to humanity had their native energies been rightly 
controlled and directed. We say "a good workman is 
known by his tools;" but to put well- sharpened tools into 
the hands of a fool or a criminal is to endanger the safety 
of the community. Skill in penmanship will make a bank 
clerk more useful or a forger more successful. Insight into 
human nature and shrewdness in dealing with men will 
add to the practical effectiveness of a reformer or the harm- 
fulness of a swindler. Thus there is no meaning in educa- 
tion unless it converge on moral education, and all culture 
and training must be interpreted in terms of the manhood 
that is to utilize them for the purposes of life. 

On the other hand, every element of education has some 
reaction on character.^ The gymnastic that makes you 
hold your head up tends to straighten your moral behavior; 
discipline in clear thinking makes for ethical sincerity; 
while all cultivation of the imagination and emotions ren- 
ders us more responsive to ideals and appreciative of other 
persons. Beyond this inevitable reaction, when any phase 

1 "And may we not say, Adeimantus, that the most gifted minds, 
when they are ill-educated, become pre-eminently bad? Do not 
great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fulness of 
nature ruined by education rather than from any inferiority, whereas 
weak natures are scarcely capable of any very great good or very 
great evil?" — Plato, Republic, translated by Jowett, book VI, 
section 491. 

2 « jf * * * the teacher succeeds in bracing aright any mental 
power — be it purely intellectual or of some other class — he does by 
that act remove one important obstacle to the success of the pro- 
cesses by which he would directly strengthen the Moral Nature of the 
Child, and enlarge its capacities."— J. P. Nichol, Moral Training in 
our Common Schools, p. 44. 



52 MORAL EDUCATION 

of education is brought into sound relation with the whole, 
and so made to converge upon the moral centre, it con- 
tributes an indispensable element to moral character. 
Take the simplest and most fundamental of all forms of 
education — physical culture. How necessary a sound body 
is to moral living. To be sure, the heroic struggle to rise 
above some painful physical limitation may give a sweet- 
ness and beauty of character rarely obtainable otherwise; 
nevertheless, every bodily disease and disturbance is just 
so much handicap to the moral life. It is all but impos- 
sible to have 'a sane mind' unless it is 'in a sound body,' 
Indigestion, nervous irritability, physical depression, slug- 
gish organic functioning: what obstacles they are to sane 
ethical living!^ Thus the problem of giving the child a 
healthy, sanitary physical environment, good, simple food, 
rational exercise, bodily culture, wise medical care when 
needed, is distinctly a moral problem, indeed, is a basal 
element in moral education.^ 

So with the cultivation of the imagination and the emo- 
tions. Much of the evil of human life comes from the 
inability to 'put yourself in his place.' A cultivated 
imagination is the basis of altruism; and a sensitive emo- 

* " Though far from fond of paradoxical expressions, we are 
tempted to say that a good diet is a necessary part of a good edu- 
cation; for in one very important sense it is emphatically true. 
In the great body of the people all education is impotent with- 
out it." — James Mill, Essay on Education, p. 29. 

"Sickly natures feel themselves dependent, robust ones dare to 
will. Therefore the care of health is essentially a part of the forma- 
tion of character, though without belonging to the science of educa- 
tion, where even the first principles for that care are wanting." — 
Herbart, Science of Education, translated by Felkin, p. 218. 

' See an excellent chapter on Physical Training a Means of Mental 
and Moral Training, in The Spirit of the New Education by Louisa 
r, Hopkins, 



THE MORAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION 53 

tional life is the requisite for all response to moral ideals. 
Personal appreciation, the power to enter into the lives of 
other people and to realize how they react upon the 
changing and the permanent factors of experience, is an 
element of central importance in the kind of character 
moral education should seek to foster. 

Equally important for moral character is the cultivation 
of the reason. Sound intellectual judgment is necessary 
in every department of human life. There are few men 
more injurious to the world than the well-intentioned man 
whose intellect does not reason straight on the simple ques- 
tions of life. We are just as respqnsible for seeing the 
right as for doing it when we see it; and thus we are mor- 
ally guilty for every element of fanaticism we might have 
avoided. Therefore it is part of our problem in moral 
education to cultivate the reason and form sound intellect- 
ual judgments on the questions of living. Moreover, 
large, calm thinking exercises a peculiarly elevating effect 
upon one's moral attitude. Herbart, better than any one 
else, has shown the importance of 'the circle of thought' 
for morality; and everyone who has dwelt for a while with 
the great thinkers knows how powerfully they influence 
the moral life.^ 

There is thus a certain solidarity in the human being; 
we cannot touch one phase of life without influencing the 
whole. Moral health depends upon the sane union of all 

^ "To deny the moral influence of intellectual culture is as great an 
error as to affirm that it alone is a sufficient safeguard of morality. 
Its tendency unquestionably is to make men gentle, amiable, fair- 
minded, truthful, benevolent, modest, sober." — J. L. Spalding, 
Means and Ends of Education, p. 193. 

"Great moral energy is the result of broad views, and of whole 
unbroken masses of thought." — Herbart, Science of Education, 
translated by Felkin, p. 222, 



54 MORAL EDUCATION 

elements of life, cultivated in just proportion. This is well 
expressed in a suggestive old book of essays by Mary G. 
Chandler. She says: " We cannot think wisely unless we 
imagine truly and love rightly as well as warmly. We 
cannot love rightly unless we think justly and imagine 
purely; nor can we imagine purely unless we love that 
which is pure. We cannot do all this unless we live out 
what we think, imagine, and love. * * * What we do must 
follow closely in the footsteps of what we know, if we would 
arrive at breadth and depth of knowledge." ^ 

This unity of the moral life is often ignored in the cur- 
rent discussion of education. Character is divided into 
instinct, habit, will, judgment; and each of these elements 
is separately considered. This is almost as grave a mis- 
take as was formerly the practice of dividing the mind into 
distinct 'faculties.' Modern psychology has shown us 
how completely the mind is a unity, and that what we 
called faculties are merely aspects of its activity. So we 
must learn to recognize the unity of the moral life. We 
are educating not faculties, but children. The training of 



' Mary G. Chandler, The Elements of Character, pp. 46-47. Com- 
pare also E. Thomson, Educational Essays, pp. 239-240: 

"The different organs of the spiritual system — intellectual, sensi- 
tive, and moral — are also united by sympathy and mutual depend- 
ence; if you get one of them into the habit of vigorous and healthy 
action, the others will assume, to some extent, a corresponding ac- 
tion. Quicken the heart, for instance, and intellect and conscience 
will wake up; touch conscience, and intellect and heart will leap; 
arouse intellect, and its associated sensibilities will be more or less 
stirred. With what godlike energy does even a sluggish mind*move 
when brought under the power of some strong passion! * * * 
The divisions, strife, enthusiasm, fanaticism, bigotry, etc., in Chris- 
tendom are chiefly owing to a want of intellectual training rather 
than a want of religious principle. From this correspondence and 
dependence of action it follows that you cannot educate one part of 
our nature without influencing others." 



THE MORAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION 55 

different aspects of the moral life must be subordinated to 
the development of the unified moral personality. 

Therefore, the problem of moral education is the prob- 
lem of the whole of education in relation to its moral 
centre and aim. Moral culture cannot be the function of 
any single influence or institution. The home, the school, 
the church, must all contribute; every instrument of educa- 
tion must be used with primary reference to the building 
of good character. Formerly there was much discussion 
as to whether moral culture was properly a function of the 
public school. The question becomes meaningless when 
we recognize that the influence of every phase of the school 
life and work can never be indifferent, but must count for 
good or evil, and therefore that it is our business to make it 
as good as possible. Moral culture is then, not a phase or 
a part of education, but the directing and organizing of 
the whole process of culture so that it may end in forming 
happy and useful manhood and womanhood. 



VII 

THE TYPE OF CHARACTER MORAL 
EDUCATION SHOULD FOSTER 

In our study hitherto I have assumed a general concep- 
tion of moral health, of good manhood and womanhood; 
it is now necessary to define what we mean by good char- 
acter, and so to formulate the aim we should set before us 
in moral education. 

The first requisite in regard to the conception of charac- 
ter is that it should be essentially positive. The mere 
avoidance of evil is one condition of a good life, but it is 
only a condition, and when it is fulfilled, the question 
remains open as to the worth of the life in either happiness 
or human service. We want, not that a man should 
refrain from harming his neighbors, but that he should 
love their welfare, enter sympathetically into their lives 
and seek to help them grow toward their highest aims; 
not that he should avoid falsehood, but that he should love 
and strive for the truth. So we need to foster the develop- 
ment of positive insight, cosmopolitan sympathy, generous 
instincts of service, an heroic attitude toward diflSculties. 

'Thus it is a widespread error to interpret the moral life 
merely negatively, as is evidenced in the current use of such 
words as 'good,' 'moral,' 'ethical.' When we have 
nothing really creditable to say of a man and wish to be 
generous, we are apt to say: "Well, at least he's a good 



THE AIM OF MORAL EDUCATION 57 

man," and it is indeed "to damn with faint praise;" for 
we mean that while he has done nothing significant for 
himself or others we have seen nothing in his life conspicu- 
ously wrong. To call such a man good is to misuse a 
noble word; he is merely not bad, which is something 
quite different. 

Indeed, one of the meanest types of character is that 
of the cowardly virtuous — the people who never do wrong 
because they are afraid to, but who are not in love with 
the right and never affirm it positively. These make the 
gossips and scandal-mongers, people who take their vice 
at second hand — the worst way to take it. There is 
some hope that he who does wrong may see the ugliness 
of his deed and react against it; but the one who is 
afraid to commit the evil deed, yet secretly loves it and 
satisfies his evil desire by gloating over the bad actions of 
othersj is cultivating an inner morbidness destructive to 
every element of nobility in character. Dante places 
these negatively good people with the fallen angels who 
did not take sides in the battle of the heavens, who were 
not for God, nor for Satan, but wanted to await the issue 
of the confiict and join the winning side : 

'The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; 
Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, 
For glory none the damned would have from them." ^ 

Dante has authority for his view. One may recall what is 
said in the Bible to the angel of the church of the Lao- 
diceans : 

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: 
I would thou wert cold or hot. 

* The Divine Comedy, Longfellow's translation, canto III. 



58 MORAL EDUCATION 

"So then because thou art hikewarm, and neither cold 
nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." ^ 

In our civilization it is these negatively respectable 
people who are the great burden upon us, which must be 
lifted in every movement toward moral and political 
reform. The blindly reactionary people are not the 
gravest menace to our institutions. The anarchist and 
nihilist, harmful as they may be, can nevertheless help us 
by showing us the seriousness of the problems we must 
solve. Nor are we in America in any immediate danger 
through the ambition of an Alcibiades or a Napoleon. It 
is the selfishness of indifference that is the real menace to 
our national life, displayed often by the very people who 
imagine they are the salt of the earth. The respectable 
people who are absorbed in serving the interests of their 
families, but forget all about the larger public interest; 
who are so devoted to their private affairs that they have 
no time to look up the record of the men for whom they 
vote, consider the principles at stake, or even go to the 
polls; who will not face the local bully in a convention or 
stand up for a cause that is unpopular — these are the people 
most to be feared. They will never be found " with truth 
upon the scaffold," but far back in the noisy procession 
that follows her banner, once it is victorious. 

Thus for our aims as a people and for every end of 
human life, the type of character we need to develop is one 
that is large in its view of life, positive in obeying what it 
accepts as right, effective in the service of humanity. Yet 
while this positive force of personality is the prime requi- 
site, it must be brought under the regulation of reason and 
into harmony with the laws of life. The forces of human 

* Revelation, chapter III, verses 15-16. 



THE AIM OF MORAL EDUCATION 59 

nature are exuberant, and may easily flow into extreme 
and distorted expression. There is always one way of 
right action, any number of wrong.^ We may leave the 
path at any point, and so limitation is constantly necessary. 
The problem of living is one of proportion ; we need to love 
the best thing most, the next in its order, and so on through 
all the objects of human endeavor. If we seek any object, 
no matter how good in itself, out of relation to the whole of 
life, the result is some measure of moral disaster. Thus 
reason never contributes the energy of the moral life; its 
function is that of limiting and regulating among desires. 
The need of this rigid obedience to 'the goddess of 
limits' is doubtless the chief cause of the persistence of the 
purely negative view of morality. This cause has been 
supported, it is true, by an historical tendency. During 
much of Christian history the negative virtues were unduly 
emphasized. The highest ideal of the middle ages was re- 
tirement from the world into a 'life of the spirit' apart 
from ordinary human activity and relationship. There is 
enough sanction for this negative ideal in the teaching of 
Christianity to insure its persistence even into a more 
positive epoch like our own. It is important, however, 
that we should not allow either the historical bias or the 
necessity of moral limitation to blind us to the fact that life 
is significant only in proportion to the vitality of its con- 
tent. The limitation has a meaning only in relation to 

1 " Again, there are many different ways of going wrong; for evil 
is in its nature infinite, to use the Pythagorean figure, but good is 
finite. But there is only one possible way of going right. Accord- 
ingly the former is easy and the latter difficult ; it is easy to miss the 
mark but difficult to hit it. This again is a reason why excess and 
deficiency are characteristics of vice and the mean state a character- 
istic of virtue." — Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, translated 
by J E. C. Welldon, p. 47. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1892. 



eO" MORAL EDUCATION 

what is limited; the restrictions to keep us in the path are 
of value only if we travel the path. 

Probably the ancient Hebrews show the most elaborate 
attempt in human history to give life a moral meaning by 
hedffing it around with ever finer limitations. The ten 
commandments sum up the spirit of the written law in a 
series of 'thou shalt nots,' warning against the great 
phases of moral failure. Even those that are verbally 
affirmative have a strong negative import. The written 
law was followed by a vast body of oral commentation 
drawing ever finer restrictions about life. The effect was 
less harmful for the Hebrews, owing to the intense vigor of 
the race, their strong hold upon the simple realities of life ; 
yet even so, their long-continued and painstaking effort 
ended in relative failure. At the time Christianity came 
how "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" had become the 
learning of the Scribes and Pharisees, with the ebb-tide 
in the forces of Hebrew life. Christ showed the rich 
young man that one might keep all the commandments 
from his youth up, yet be morally worthless;^ and the two 
commandments of love to God and one's neighbor were 
said to contain all the law and the prophets, because they 
inculcate the spirit from which would ceaselessly flow the 
good actions the law sought vainly to guarantee by multi- 
plied negative restrictions. 

There are thus two different forms of moral failure. If 
vigorous emotion and desire are given free sweep, the result 
is a wild luxuriance of human nature, a kind of tropical 
jungle where beautiful, fragrant flowers bloom beside 
noxious poison plants. If, on the other hand, life has little 
positive content of feeling and desire, but is surrounded 

' Matthew, chapter XIX, verses 16-22. 



THE AIM OF MORAL EDUCATION 61 

with careful restrictions, the resuU is sterihty, a Sahara 
desert where all life is destroyed over the barren waste. 
As an example in thought and life of the unrestrained ex- 
pression of natural forces, Rousseau may be taken; and 
one sees readily how foolish is the theory that human 
nature is all good at the heart and only the removal of 
limitations is necessary to bring paradise. John Stuart 
Mill has given us an illustration of the opposite failure out 
of his own life. After the admirable intellectual education 
he received, he found himself at the age of twenty thor- 
oughly convinced that he ought to live for the good of 
humanity, and caring nothing about the good of humanity.^ 
Reason was admirably regulative, but there was nothing 
to regulate. The machine was perfect, the engineer's hand 
was on the throttle, but there v/as no steam in the boiler. 
After all, a tropical jungle is better than a Sahara desert; 
for in the former is much life, though distorted and uncon- 
trolled, while the latter is mere death. 

Thus there are two basal principles, one primary and 
one secondary, governing our work in moral education. 
We must foster the growth of the positive and effective 
moral personality, seeking to call out every natural power 
in harmony with all the rest; and we must bring this 
wealth of vigorous life into harmony with the laws of the 
universe and under the regulative control of clear-sighted, 
conscious reason. 

There is a third principle which we must follow. We 
have seen that human life is a growth-process, and there- 
fore the moral personality we seek to develop will be not 
statical but changing. It is therefore necessary to see to 
it that the change is growth ever toward the higher. We 

^ See John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, chapter V. 



62 MORAL EDUCATION 

have emphasized the need of loving and wiUing 'the best;* 
but the best is construed differently on every plane of life. 
This is not the place to undertake a discussion of the theory 
of relative and absolute ethical standards; but this much 
I can say : any statement of the moral ideal that attempts 
to be absolute vi^ill be merely formal, while the content 
gathered up within the form will change with every step of 
our growth. Suppose one accepts the statement that "the 
chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," 
still the meaning this has for us will change as we learn 
higher and larger ways of serving and enjoying. The 
moral ideal of any individual is relative to him, and there- 
fore absolutely binding upon him. We owe obedience to 
the highest we can see upon the plane of life we have 
reached, and it is our duty to see as high as we can. Diso- 
bedience to our own loftiest conception is punished by loss 
of the vision and degeneration to a lower plane. 

Thus the crowning element in the type of character 
moral education should seek to foster is the power to go on 
growing independently. I have emphasized the need of 
helping the child on in the natural process of his develop- 
ment: after all, the greatest help w^e can give is to make 
him independent of our assistance. We can aid but a little 
while and over a limited area of life; the individual must 
be able to grow steadily from within if his life is to be 
increasingly worth while to himself and to others. There- 
fore the wisest teacher is the one who makes himself unnec- 
essary at the earliest possible moment. This is not usually 
understood in our present American education. We hear 
much of the need of strong personality in the parent and 
the teacher, and the current discussion implies that it is 
impossible to have too vigorous an assertion of it over the 



THE AIM OF MORAL EDUCATION 63 

child. It is true, we need strong personality, but it is 
equally necessary to have the reserve of wisdom in its ex- 
pression, otherwise there is danger that the child may be 
converted into a mere satellite of the parent or teacher. 
This is so far from being generally recognized that we hear 
certain institutions and teachers even boast of sending out 
their students stamped with a conventional type and 
manner. 

There have been many teachers who could get good 
work out of their pupils and an obedient response from 
them, while the teacher's authority was present; but the 
really great teachers are those who have been able to touch 
the student's spirit into life, yet leave the flower of per- 
sonality unspoiled. If education is to fit for the world in 
which we live there is supreme need of the power of self- 
direction and the ability to grow without depending on 
outside stimulus. Let me repeat: the wisest teacher is 
the one who makes himself unnecessary at the earliest 
possible moment; and he becomes most useful just at the 
point where he ceases to be necessary. 

The principle has an even wider application. There is 
much said today about the desirability of so organizing 
the forces of education as to be able to stamp a definite 
national and moral type upon all children. Indeed, this 
is often assumed to be unqualifiedly desirable, and the 
question raised is only as to the method of accomplishing 
it. Certain foreign countries have gone further than we 
have in this connection. France, in particular, through 
her modern highly centralized system of education, has 
gone corfsciously and systematically to work to stamp one 
national type upon all children. It may well be ques- 



64 MORAL EDUCATION 

tioned whether the result is not a threatened breakdown 
of moral initiative and originality. The test of French 
temper that came with the famous Dreyfus case indicated 
in great masses of the people a lack of cool, independent 
moral judgment, a tendency to fall easily into the whims 
of mob-mind, a ready willingness to abandon the right 
for some supposed 'honor of the army' or the nation, 
that are full of peril for the future of French freedom. 
There were redeeming features, I know: the moral inde- 
pendence of a few men stood out in heroic contrast; but 
the very impressiveness of their action came from the fact 
that they were so few. 

Wherever militarism has been dominant there are illus- 
trations of the breakdown of moral independence, shown 
in the sheep-like willingness to follow a leader, even when 
the path he has chosen is wrong. Militarism demands of 
the rank and file but one virtue, the most primitive of all, 
unquestioning obedience; and surely that virtue is utterly 
inadequate to the demands either of free citizenship or of 
independent, moral manhood and womanhood. Whether 
one turn to the history of Sparta or to phases of modern 
German life, one may find with equal ease evidences of 
the evil of militarism adopted as the profession of a nation, 
and of the endeavor it always involves to stamp a single 
moral type upon all citizens. For certain ends of the 
state such a process is most effective, but these ends are 
attained at the expense of the full, free development of 
human life in each individual. One can understand why 
Prussia hated Froebel. 

What of the present tendencies in American education ? 
President Butler has said that " Spontaneity is the keynote 



THE AIM OF MORAL EDUCATION 65 

of education in the United States." ^ Hitherto, this has 
been largely true. Will it always be so ? The tendency is 
strong today in our public education toward greater cen- 
tralization and more and more machine-like organization. 
Is there not danger that we may sink into the death of un- 
progressive uniformity, losing the moral initiative of the in- 
dividual teacher, the touch of his life upon the life of the 
child ? If our education is to prepare for American life, if 
it is to conserve the aim of moral culture, centralization 
must be balanced by democracy, the advance of system 
and organization must be no faster than the growth of free 
moral initiative in the individual units. It is unity, not 
uniformity, that is desirable. The former means sympa- 
thy in spirit through mutual appreciation and a community 
of ideals; the latter would be hampering identity in the 
form and body of life. Thus we should not wish to stamp 
one national or moral type on all our children; but while 
initiating them into the full inheritance of ethical thought 
and action from the past, and seeking to waken in them an 
appreciation of the great ideals for which our country 
stands, we should strive to preserve and deepen their 
moral originality and cultivate an independent power of 
growth. 

* " Spontaneity is the keynote of education in the United States. 
Its varied form, its uneven progress, its lack of symmetry, its practical 
effectiveness, are all due to the fact that it has sprung, unbidden and 
unforced, from the needs and aspirations of the people. Local pref- 
erence and individual initiative have been ruling forces. What men 
have wished for that they have done. They have not waited for 
state assistance or for state control. As a result, there is, in the 
European sense, no American system of* education." — Nicholas 
Murray Butler, Introduction to Education in the United States: A 
Series of Monographs Prepared for the United States Exhibit at the 
Paris Exposition, igoo, p. VII. 



66 MORAL EDUCATION 

To sum up: the aim of moral education should be to 
develop in each individual a strong and effective moral 
personality, reverently obedient to the laws of life and con- 
trolled by clear-sighted reason, seeing, loving and willing 
the best on the plane of life that has been reached, strong 
in moral initiative and able to grow independently ever 
toward loftier vision and nobler action. 



VIII 
TYPES OF ACTIVITY 

We come now to the heart of our subject, the problem 
of the means we are to utiKze for moral culture. Recon- 
struction of the current view is as necessary here as we 
have found it to be in connection with the aim of moral 
education. Frequently the problem is discussed as if it 
meant merely teaching ethics to children. It is evident 
that ethical instruction is a necessary part of our work. To 
live well we must be able to distinguish intellectually 
between right and wrong; yet one may have that power 
and still fail utterly in moral living. Between seeing the 
right and doing it, lie two other activities, love and will. 
Character is organic; the virtues must be built into the 
very structure of our habits and instincts. Moreover, 
even the ethical judgment depends less upon any form of 
intellectual instruction than upon practice in life itself. 
Thus, while ethical instruction is a necessary part of moral 
education, it is only a part, and far from the most important 
one. 

If we consider our own lives we shall recognize the forces 
that are most powerful in developing character. It is our 
own action and the reaction of surrounding conditions and 
forces upon us, that determine the moral nature of our 
lives. The work we have done and the pleasures we have 
enjoyed, the sorrows and struggles through which we have 



68 INlOltAr. KDUCATION 

passed, the streets and houses about us, the jijovernment 
under which we liave lived, the natural world, the social 
atinosj)here, the individuals who have been associated 
with us — it is these forces that have molded us for good or 
evil. Hence our main work in moral education consists 
in directing and controlling the activities of children, and 
in utilizing and regulating the environment that acts upon 
them. 

Moreover, the effect of environment upon any individual 
is determined by his attitude and action in reference to it; 
and therefore the activities of children will have the most 
direct iuiluence upon their moral development. Surely 
since Froebel, no one is excusable for failing to see that 
every educational influence is to be inter{)reted only in 
terms of the child's 'self-activity.' What children do is 
more important than what is done to them. 

There are three dilferent types of action which can be 
clearly distinguished from each other, each of which has 
its own value for nioral education. They arc: 

1. Work compelled by external forces, as the wills of 
other persons or the necessities of life. In such action the 
will of the inilividual responds to the pressure of some 
objective force. 

2. Work self-compelled. This is activity which is 
not spontaneous, flowing from joy in the action itself, 
but performed, even though somewhat distasteful, be- 
cause it leads to some end the individual has freely 
chosen. 

3. Play, or spontaneous, uncompelled action. Here 
the action in itself is attractive. The forces of life, physical 
or mental, Mow out naturally into joyous expression, with 
no compulsion, subjective or objective. These three 



TYPES OF ACTIVITY 09 

types of activity form an ascending scale toward freedom; 
we are to consider the value of each for moral culture. 

Just here we come upon an old struggle. The conflict 
between love and duty goes far back in the history of 
thought and has come up anew in education. Is an action 
morally better because it is diflficult ? Is it nobler to do 
right because you love to, or because you ought to ? Kant 
is the extreme expression of the type of philosophy which 
holds action to be good only as it is consciously impelled 
by an imperative of duty. Kant went so far as to argue 
that when we do right because we love to, the action has no 
moral value. ^ The poets, who stand so much closer to the 
common thought and experience of mankind than the 
j)liilosophers, have been the best interpreters of the oppo- 
site view, which holds that love is better than duty and that 
the moral value of an action is increased as it becomes 
spontaneous. 

Undoubtedly the merit of an action that is difficult is 
greater than that of one flowing naturally from a love of 
t!ie best. For instance, a sailor v/ho is more or less a 
slave to drink, and who finds himself alone in a great city 
with three months' pay in his pocket, deserves credit if he 
succeeds in passing the saloons without going in and falling 
victim to a debauch. On the other hand, a man like 
Emerson, sane in appetite and self-control, with no tenrpta- 
tion to gross self-indulgence, earns no merit by passii g a 
row of saloons without entering any one of them to get 
intoxicated. Yet as the second type of action is more 
beautiful is it not morally higher than the first? Habitual 



1 Kant, Metaphysic of Morals, Section I, in Kant's Critique of 
Practical Reason, etc., translated by T. K. Abbott. Longmans, 
Green, & Co., New ^ork, 1889, 



70 MORAL EDUC^rlON 

resistance to a temptation ends by making us insensible 
to it. The action that began as morally difficult becomes 
attractive and easy as it becomes habitual. Kant would 
reduce us to the paradox that an action which began as 
morally good ceases to be good merely by repeating it. 

Thus we must distinguish carefully between the merit 
of the man, under all the circumstances, and the moral 
worth of the action in itself. For the man on the higher 
plane to deserve as much credit as the other, he must 
strive just as hard for the excellencies that are still beyond 
him; if he rests on what has been attained he quickly 
deteriorates. On the other hand, no good action reaches 
its full moral worth until it becomes the natural expression 
of a loving heart. 

The same paradox that Kant held in ethics long domi- 
nated education. It was assumed that only what was un- 
pleasant for the pupil had an educative value. As in relig- 
ion a melancholy behavior was supposed to be pleasing 
to God, so the school was made as forbidding as possible. 
Rousseau led the strong reaction against this fallacy. His 
protest was partly put in practice by Pestalozzi and com- 
pletely carried out by Froebel. It is impossible to state 
too strongly our debt to the kindergarten for its insistence 
upon the educational value of free, spontaneous action. 
In all his work Froebel stands for the emancipating truth 
that action is worth while, in education and life, in propor- 
tion as it is joyous. Yet, even with this lofty teaching 
behind us, the old discussion goes on. 'Interest' and 
'duty' are pitted against each other; and it becomes 
necessary to see clearly the value of each type of action in 
moral development. 

The most important point with reference to the three 



TYPES OF ACTIVITY 71 

types of action is that in the ascending scale each lower 
phase tends to pass into the next higher. One who begins 
to work in response to the spur of necessity or the authority 
of others, tends more and more to work from inner choice. 
If the end be worth while, one comes to recognize it and 
so to affirm the means, thus substituting an inner for an 
outer compulsion and achieving a considerable measure 
of freedom. Even more rapidly does work tend to pass 
into play. Almost any action expressing power becomes 
attractive as we learn to do it easily and well. Therein 
lies the well-known possibility for good or evil in habit. 
The action that at first was difficult becomes increasingly 
easy and spontaneous. The thing we did because we 
must, we come to do from delight in it. 

This applies not only to all ordinary work, but to every 
moral action begun in obedience to duty. You have a 
neighbor whom you dislike and whom you pass every day 
upon the street. From a sense of duty you force yourself 
to speak to him as kindly as possible. After some days 
this ceases to be an effort; you begin to appreciate the 
other's humanity, to realize how largely the faults you 
resented in him are the result of accidents of which he has 
been the victim. Perhaps his sourness is altered a little; 
and in the end, the action that began as a hard expression 
of duty becomes a positive joy. 

How much more beautiful is the action at the end than 
in the beginning, though at first it was far more meritori- 
ous. People who force themselves to do generous deeds 
for us from a sense of duty, deserve our reverence but do 
not give us joy. How impossible it would be to live habit- 
ually with any one who never did a kind action except 
from a sense of duty ! The deeds that make us happy are 



72 MORAL EDUCAl'ION 

those that overflow from a loving heart. Thus the spon- 
taneous action is not only more beautiful than the com- 
pelled one, but has a higher function of service.^ 

This process of transforming the lower type of action 
into the higher is constantly going on in the moral life; 
its end would be the complete transfiguration of duty into 
love, and work into play. Wordsworth has this in mind 
when he says: 

"Serene will be our days and bright 
And happy will our nature be 
When love is an unerring light, 
And joy its own security."^ 

Dante, in more detail, describes the end of the process in 
the last charge Virgil gives him at the top of the mountain 
of struggle : 

"The temporal fire and the eternal, 

Son, thou hast seen, and to a place art come 

Where of myself no farther I discern. 
By intellect and art I here have brought thee; 

Take thine own pleasure for thy guide henceforth; 

Beyond the steep ways and the narrow art thou. 
Behold tlie sun, that shines upon thy T'>rehead; 

Behold the grass, the flowerets, and the shrubs 

Which of itself alone this land produces. 
Until rejoicing come the beauteous eyes 

* "By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world 
which renuiin iniknown even to ourselves, or when they are diselosefl, 
surprise nobody so mucli as the benefactor." — Robert Louis Stev- 
enson, An Apology for Idleness, in Virginihus Puerisq-m',\y. 122. 

- Ode to Duty. 



TYPES OF ACTIVITY 73 

Which weeping caused me to come unto thee, 

Thou canst sit down, and thou canst walk among them. 
Expect no more or word or sign from me; 

Free and upright and sound is thy free-will. 

And error were it not to do its bidding; 
Thee o'er thyself I therefore crown and mitre! " ^ 

There is no hope, or danger, however, that the end of 
the process will come to human nature as it is in this world. 
Our effort may become more harmonious and less painful, 
but effort will always be necessary to the highest life. 
Here, every height is but a stepping-stone to a higher. 
The more we convert hard actions into glad, spontaneous 
ones, the more free are we to press on in obedience to a 
still loftier call of duty; and perhaps this process might 
extend to infinity. Thus in the world we know and the 
life we live both types of action are always necessary. If 
education is to prepare adequately for human living it 
must utilize both in the training of the child. The third 
and lowest type of action, work in obedience to external 
compulsion, may entirely disappear in the best human 
life, and therefore is to be utilized in education only as a 
means to the other two. 



1 The Divine Comedy, translated by Longfellow, Purgatorio, 
canto XXVII. 



IX 

MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY 

We have seen that logically work precedes play and 
leads up to it. For an adult, to play well one must have 
worked well. With the child, on the other hand, the free, 
spontaneous action precedes the other type. This con- 
trast is but one expression of a general law. Everywhere 
in life and education we are beginning to see that the 
logical order we discover by analyzing a certain subject- 
matter is often, perhaps usually, opposite to the chrono- 
logical order in the development of life. Logically we 
would construct a living organism of the higher group by 
laying down as a basis the bony skeleton, covering this with 
flesh and muscle, and finally adding the skin and special 
organs and senses. In nature, on the contrary, the organ- 
ism is born alive, the elements that logically follow one 
another develop simultaneously, and the skeleton, the 
logical foundation of all the rest, is one of the last to receive 
its final form. 

So in teaching any subject, we would begin logically 
with the abstract elements and gradually build up the 
concrete whole from these. In drawing^ the first element 
logically is the straight line, then the curved line, then the 
combination of these into geometrical forms, thus preparing 
for the drawing of objects from nature. Really, however, 
the child begins to use drawing as a language for expres- 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY 75 

sion, he is interested in copying and creating concrete 
scenes long before he can understand the abstract elements 
of form that furnish the grammar of art.^ So with every 
art, he should acquire the means of expression before he can 
understand its grammar or theoretic principles. He can 
sing before he can understand musical notation. He 
speaks long before he is ready for the grammar of lan- 
guage. We are only beginning to understand the reach 
and importance of this principle in its application to 
education. Many of our text-books, even in subjects 
most transformed by the modern spirit, continue to be 
constructed in harmony with the logic of the adult mind 
instead of the order of development in the child.^ 

In its application to moral education this law means 
that the habit of good conduct should precede ethical 
reasoning, that the child's activities in harmony with the 
best should be developed before he can understand ethical 
principles. Thus the first element of moral education in 
the earlier period of childhood will be to waken and guide 
these activities. Moreover, as we have seen, the earlier 
form of activity is the free, spontaneous type. This is 
due to the almost perfect adjustment of pleasure to life- 
sustaining action in the child's instincts. The baby works 
for his dinner until he is in a profuse perspiration, but in- 
stinct renders the effort itself pleasurable. As the child 

1 Compare two studies in the Pedagogical Seminary on children's 
drawings: by Herman T. Lxjkens, vol. IV, pp. 79-110; and by 
l*REDERicK BuRK, vol. IX, pp. 296-323. 

^ Compare the study on Children's Interests by Earl Barnes, 
Studies in Education, vol. I, pp. 203-212. The results of this study 
indicate that children are interested in use and movement before 
color and form. Mr. Barnes concludes that therefore our natural 
history and other object lessons with young children need to be 
reconstructed on the basis of the growth of the child's interest. 



76 MORAL EDUCATION 

grows out of his babyhood into the period of manifold 
imitation of Hfe, his activity still falls largely under the head 
of play. Self-compelled work becomes possible only with 
the development of a conscious reflection that can recog- 
nize ends; and in the earlier period, while work directed 
by others has a small but growing value, play is the form 
of action we must chiefly utilize for education. 

For child or man play gives more complete self- 
expression than work. It is therefore so wonderful a test 
of character. When we do what we like to do because we 
like it, v/e show what we mean and care for. Goethe 
understood this in portraying the common people in Faust. 
When he desired to show the meaning of their lives he 
chose, not the six days of their compelled action in obe- 
dience to the wills of others, but the one day of glad free- 
dom to do as they pleased. It is then that what they really 
care for appears.^ 

As play is the most expressive form of action, so it gives 
a growth, both in power to do and power to appreciate, 
that does not come in equal measure from work. When 
v/e compel ourselves to an action we grow in pov/er to 
compel ourselves, but in the action itself we are hampered 
by the friction involved. When the action itself is attrac- 
tive and our whole interest is absorbed in it, the growth in 
power is greatest ; for we go forward most rapidly in mas- 
tering the difficulties of the action when our attention is not 
forced by the will, but held by the charm of the action 
itself.^ Similarly with appreciation: our work initiates 

' Faust, part I, scene II. 

^ " What children acquire in the spontaneous, intense, self-directed 
use of their faculties is always more valuable than the results of a 
less eager though more prolonged attention to enforced tasks." — 
President Eliot, More Money lor the Public Schools, p. 72. 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY 77 

US into the struggles of other people, our play makes it pos- 
sible for us to appreciate their love and desire. When a 
little girl plays 'dolls' or 'keeping house' she is living 
herself into the deepest springs of human life. So play 
quickens observation and imparts instruction in the most 
effective way. The boy who watches the carpenter build 
a house on the corner, and then on Saturday constructs 
a hut in the backyard, has learned how a house is made 
better than we can teach him by any process of intellec- 
tual instruction. 

Many who have reflected carefully upon their own early 
development have acknowledged how much more impor- 
tant to their culture was some form of play than the or- 
dinary work of education. This was confessed by several 
of the writers in the interesting symposium in the Forum 
some years ago on " How I was Educated." ^ Goethe gives 
a still more striking illustration in his Autobiography. 
The puppet-play he enjoyed with such varied activity and 
large play of imagination meant more to his real culture 
and to the work of his mature life than some parts of the 
formal education he received.^ 

If play is then so powerful an instrument of education 
it should not be left to chance and whim, but should be 
utilized consciously in the home and the school, and adapted 
to the period of the child's development. Froebel was the 
great pioneer here; and though the over mystical interpre- 
tations he gave to the toys he would place in the hands of 
children were unwarranted, and have certainly led to folly 

1 See the articles by E. E. Hale, T. W. Higginson, F. A. P. 
Barnard, and others, in the Forum, vols. I and II. 

' Compare Goethe's Autobiography, translated by Oxenford, pp. 
35-36. 



78 MORAL EDUCATION 

in those of his followers who have no sense of humor, still 
it is to Froebel we owe the first clear formulation of the 
law of a succession of 'gifts' and games for the child 
adapted to the phases of his growth, and utilized consciously 
in his education. Indeed his was not only the first but the 
only great attempt except as developed by his followers. 
Coming as he did before the modern study of child-develop- 
ment, Froebel based his arrangement of ' gifts ' more upon 
the nature and relations of the object than upon the 
phase of development of the child. Thus in some meas- 
ure he shared the mistake, referred to at the beginning 
of this chapter, of following the logical instead of the nat- 
ural order. The value of the ball is not that it symbolizes 
the principle of sphericity in nature, but that it is simple in 
form, easily fits itself to the hand, suggests vigorous action 
and lends itself to social games. Similarly the little wooden 
blocks given to children are of value as units for creative 
construction, not as expressing abstract geometrical prin- 
ciples. Thus in general the ' gifts ' of Froebel are helpful, 
not because they cultivate analysis of form or an under- 
standing of abstract principles and type ideas, but in so far 
as they lead to observation of the concrete and to interest 
in constructive action. The child's play is of value 
not chiefly as a means of instruction, but as calling forth 
healthy expression of intellect, imagination and emotion, 
developing the creative power and the ability to appreciate, 
and cultivating at once independent action and social 
harmony. With this larger moral aim before us the follow- 
ing principles should guide us in selecting and regulating 
the toys and games of children : 

1. There should be simplicity in the character, and rigid 
limitation in the number of toys given a child. Many 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY 79 

complicated toys suppress instead of wakening a child's 
activity.^ One simple cloth doll a child may dress and 
undress is worth a show-window of wax puppets finished 
in imitation of overdressed adults. One box of plain 
blocks is better than a hundred complicated toys, whose 
chief use is to stimulate the child's faculty for investiga- 
tion, as he takes them to pieces, at the expense of cultivat- 
ing a dangerous destructiveness. 

2. The toys and games should furnish a means of 
activity and stimulate to it, the better if the activity is 
creative. This principle is vastly more important than 
questions of color and form in the toys. Indeed those 
questions are rather incidental, to be settlegl by good taste 
without much reference to education. The toy I remem- 
ber with greatest pleasure from my own early childhood 
was a quantity of blocks sawed from a piece of smoothed 
scantling. They were home-made, in size about 2^ 
inches each way, uncolored, with no distracting pictures 
upon them, and could not be broken. They were simple 
units from which one could construct all manner of inter- 
esting objects, especially trains and castles, and outlasted, 
both in interest and educational value, the objects of ad- 
miration of many a Christmas morning. Next to that 
toy I recall with most interest a box of empty spools pos- 
sessed by a fortunate friend whose mother was a seam- 
stress. While less ready units than the blocks, these spools 
could be used in many a game and construction. 

The value of the collections of stamps, flowers, minerals, 
which most children have a passion for making at a certain 
stage of their growth, is, similarly, that such interests 

* See an excellent chapter on Toys, in Practical Education, by 
Makia apd R. L. Edgeworth, vol. I, pp. 9-39. 



80 MORAL EDUCATION 

\ 

stimulate an educative type of action. Still more helpful 
are living pets in furnishing opportunity and stimulus for 
much activity on the part of the child. No inanimate 
toy can be equally effective. Moreover, in caring for his 
animal friends and charges, building huts for them, feeding 
and protecting them from storms, the child's action is not 
only creative, but expressive of the most generous and 
affectionate emotions. Thus few instruments can be more 
valuable for moral culture than this. 

3. In all the child's play there sliould be room for the 
imagination and a stimulus to its activity. Any one who 
has watched a child make a train of cars out of a row of 
chairs placed together or a few square blocks on the floor, 
antl has contrasted the lastingness and intensity of the 
child's joy with the brief interest he has in a complicated, 
mechanical imitation engine and cars, will realize how 
largely both the pleasure and the educational value of play 
are due to the imagination. From this point of view 
simplicity in the character and limitation in the number of 
toys become doubly desirable. In every aspect of human 
life today we can see the deadening effect of over-equip- 
ment. We are always in danger of slipping into slavery 
to the things that should serve us. We need good tools, 
but we must keep the upper-hand and use our tools, other- 
wise they become a burden. It is difficult to study hard 
in a college over luxurious in its appointments. I have 
seen school-rooms so decorated with a multitude of things 
that pupils and teacher alike seemed unable to live up to 
their clothes. Life, like art, demands a certain hard 
restraint if it is to be independent and forceful. Thus 
especially in childhood we must beware of suppressing 
mind and imagination by a multitude of things. The 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY 81 

blas^ child sitting in the midst of a nursery crowded with 
uncared-for toys is father of the man who has 'gained the 
whole world ' or a good part of it, and lost the kingdom of 
his own soul; and the child is more to be pitied than the 
man because he is not to blame for his condition. 

Thus a child gains far more in joy and culture from his 
play when a large element must be filled out by his imagi- 
nation. This explains why the little girl will cherish a 
rag-doll that does not look at all like a real baby with so 
much more affection than an imitation of a human baby, 
uncanny in its lifelikeness. On the other hand, wonder 
is closely akin to active imagination, and the stimulus that 
comes with surprise in the presence of some unexplained 
mechanism may waken activity. Thus occasionally it 
may be helpful to surprise the child with some little inven- 
tion of the age, that is not good as the daily bread of his 
play life. 

4. It is well that a child should learn to play alone, 
without the stimulus of association with other persons. 
This makes for resourcefulness in human life and involves 
an independent activity of the imagination that is helpful. 
Except for those children who tend to withdraw overmuch 
into a dream world of their own, parents should seek to 
cultivate in the child this ability to depend upon himself 
in some part of his play. 

5. On the other hand, a wholly new element of moral 
education enters, when play involves association and com- 
bination with others. Here, again, it is to the kindergarten 
we turn for the most noteworthy application of the princi- 
ple. The games of the kindergarten involving social 
union and action cheerfully in harmony with others, are 
among its most valuable contributions to education. The 



82 MORAL EDUCATION 

same principle is the basis in those vigorous athletic games, 
played by organized teams, and especially available for 
boys. If only the number of players and spectators could 
be reversed! Such games demand at once strong personal 
initiative on the part of each member with rigorous subor- 
dination of his action to the purpose of the whole; thus 
cultivating just that combination of independence and 
obedience necessary in moral living. These games, how- 
ever, which have often been pushed quite beyond sane 
relation to the aims of education in school and college 
'athletics,' if the most spectacular, are by no means the 
best illustration of the principle we are considering. Many 
quiet games played with toys, even in the nursery age, can 
be so guided as to teach the child harmonious combination 
with others; and all outdoor play can be so arranged. We 
thus gain, not only the added education in socially harmo- 
nious action, but the great stimulus to the child's activity 
that results from companionship. This element of 
social combination can be utilized increasingly as the 
child grows, since the natural process of moral develop- 
ment is toward action where means are consciously ad- 
justed to ends and where the individual's sympathy 
extends over a widening area of life, 

6. It is impossible to emphasize too strongly the value of 
some measure of companionship in the child's play on the 
part of the parent and others guiding the child. Not only 
do we thus learn to know more intimately the tastes and 
tendencies of our children and gain opportunities for the 
exercise of the most helpful personal influence, but our 
companionship is itself one of the most important factors 
in making the play morally educative to the child. His 
self-expression is helped and guided and his activity is 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY 83 

brought into harmony with the whole of Hfe. Parents 
should take a hint from the fact that the most effective 
workers in boys' and girls' clubs have always been those 
who could 'play the game' most enthusiastically. 

7. On the other hand, we must beware of over regulating 
the play of our children, or its spontaneity will be lost and 
it will degenerate into a dull routine. The child must keep 
his initiative and the adult should be comrade, not master.^ 

By consciously selecting and guiding the child's play in 
harmony with the principles above outlined, we can utilize 
it as a powerful force for moral education. Perhaps the 
most important moral result, however, is the learning of 
the art of joy. With all our failure in the art of work 
through overhaste and misdirected energies, we under- 
stand that form of action so much better than we do the 
art of joy. One of the most significant evidences of 
failure in our civilization is found in the way we strive to 
enjoy ourselves. The soldier or sailor, home from some 
months' endurance of hard work and privation, who 
wanders into the underground dives where poisonous drink 
is sold and sad caricatures of what once were women are 
ready to pander to every degraded sensibility, is seeking to 
be happy. The rich man who strives to distract himself 

1 " From those who grow up under the oppression of constant ob- 
servation, no versatihty, no inventive power, no spirit of daring, no 
confident demeanor can be expected. We can only expect human 
beings of simple, unvaried temperament, to v,'hom the flat monoto- 
nous round of prescribed business is pleasant and right, who would 
shrink from all that is elevated and peculiar, and give themselves up 
to all that is commonplace and comfortable. Those who so far agree 
with me in this must be careful not to think for a moment that they 
can Claim to form great characters, because they leave their children 
to run wild without supervision and without culture. Education is 
a vast whole of ceaseless labor, which exacts true proportion from 
beginning to end ; merely to avoid a few errors is of no avail." — Hei{- 
BART, The Science of Education, translated by Felkin, p. 98, 



84 MORAL EDUCATION 

by wandering aimlessly over the earth, by incessantly gam- 
bling, or by buying thousands of acres other people need 
and turning them into a wilderness through which he may 
follow dogs, is trying to be happy. Even the cultivated 
human being, who should know better if his education has 
been sound, makes such sad work of it when he attempts 
the art of joy. The very name we give our play shows our 
failure; for we speak of 'distraction' and 'diversion' as 
if we wanted to be diverted, pulled off, from the serious 
business of life, failing to see that true play is recreation, 
the recreating of our powers, bodily and mental, through 
their spontaneous and joyous expression. 

Perhaps we are so slow in learning the art of joy because 
joy itself has so long and so widely been regarded as evil. 
We are only beginning to understand what Spinoza argued 
so clearly:' that joy as joy is lif^, and pain as pain is death. 
It is true life may spring from death, and the ' ministry of 
suffering' may teach what could be learned in no other 
way. Yet true joy means greater vitality and power, and 
it should be the inheritance of every human being. 

Thus we should give opportunities of joyous play to our 

• Spinoza returns to this argument again and again in distinct 
reaction against the views of the rehgions that prevailed in his en- 
vironment. Compare his Ethic (translated by W. Hale White, 
second edition, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1894) part III, 
propositions XI and LIX; also part IV, proposition XLV, p. 217: 

' Nothing but a gloomy and sad superstition forbids enjoyment. 
For why is it more seemly to extinguish hunger and thirst than 
to drive away melancholy? My reasons and my conclusions are 
these: — No God and no human being, except an envious one, is 
delighted by my impotence or my trouble, or esteems as any 
virtue in us tears, sighs, fears, and other tilings of this kind, which 
are signs of mental impotence; on the contrary, the greater the 
joy with which we are affected, the greater the perfection to 
which we pass thereby, that is to say, the more do we necessarily 
partake of the divine nature." 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY fe- 

children if we are to educate them for the art of joy in 
human Hfe; ahd "our children" should mean all children. 
As it is the duty of every parent and teacher to utilize the 
play of his children so that it may contribute to their whole 
culture, so it is the duty of society as a whole (that is, of 
every man and woman) to give every child opportunity for 
such culture and guide his use of it. Only as this is done 
for all children can we hope to make play contribute the 
great aid it may furnish for moral education.^ 



' "Man eats and works; so does the ox. But man is created also 
to enjoy, and his capacities for enjoyment put him into communica- 
tion with fields of being of which the mere animal cannot faintly 
dream. Some of those whose thought and care were given to the 
poor felt that their work was hardly begun until they could waken 
mto activity those distinctly human faculties of social intercourse, 
of intellectual pleasure and artistic delight, which for themselves 
made the world so fair and life so well worth living. It would seem 
as though this were a proper function of the State-supported school 
system ; but it will probably take several generations yet to con- 
vince taxpayers that it is not a waste of money to teach the rising 
generation how to be simply and rationally happy." — James O. S. 
Huntington, in Philanthropy and Social Progress , by Jane Addams, 
el al, pp. 108-109, 



X 

MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH WORK 

We have seen that work as well as play is present in all 
human living, that the motive of love must be completed 
by duty; therefore if moral education is to prepare for 
life it must train both the desire for earnest work and the 
habit of its performance. Moreover, not only as a prep- 
aration for adult life, but in its direct moral results, work 
is a precious instrument of education. It can be made 
to contribute in four ways: 

1. The power to work is the mastery of the means in- 
dispensable in the pursuit of any end of human life. 
Spontaneous action is an end in itself as work is not, but 
we do not go far on the path toward any aim that is worth 
while without the power of hard, sustained effort. Genius 
has been defined as the capacity for hard work; genius is 
much more than that, but no talent or gift will carry a man 
far without the ability to work earnestly and continuously 
even when the work is distasteful. 

2. While play is the form of action most rapidly devel- 
oping power, it is through work that we round out char- 
acter and bring elements in which we are deficient into 
harmony with the whole, thus making our lives more 
effective instruments than they could be otherwise. 

3. Work is the means by which we establish good habits 
we would not otherwise form. In so far as our desires are 



MORAL EDUCATION THROtJGH WORK 87 

right and our play-instincts sound, we can leave the habits 
formed by spontaneous action to take care of themselves; 
but it is only by hard and repeated effort that we can build 
brain paths to actions and ends we know to be right but 
to which we are not naturally drawn in desire.^ Yet it is 
just these habits formed by hard, conscious effort that are 
the one trustworthy safeguard against the forms of failure 
to which we are individually peculiarly liable. 

4. It is work that gives us self-mastery in every phase of 
the moral life. Play is expressive, harmonious, beautiful, 
but hard effort is the one path to a self-control, positive not 
negative, that makes it possible for us to trust ourselves and 
utilize all our forces for the ends we consider worth while. 

Obviously these four values come primarily through 
work that is from inner compulsion, depending upon the 
will of the individual and not upon external forces. With 
the work that is compelled from without the chief direct 
gain is in the formation of habits and the growth that may 
be utilized later by self-direction. Still, when the work is 
for good aims and rightly adjusted to the personality, we 
have seen that the lower form tends to pass into the higher, 
the outer compulsion to be replaced by an affirmation of 
the individual's own will. Thus rightly utilized, the work 
from external compulsion, such as we may exact of chil- 
dren, contributes only less directly than the self-compelled 
action to the same four moral ends we have studied. 
Thus work must be utilized as a precious and constant 

1 "As the Strength of the Body lies chiefly in being able to endure 
Hardships, so also does that of the Mind. And the great Principle 
and Foundation of all Virtue and Worth is plac'd in this: That a 
Man is able to deny himself his own Desires, cross his own Inclina- 
tions, and purely follow what Reason directs as best, tho' the Appe- 
tite lean the other Way." — Locke, Some Thoughts concerning Educa- 
tion, edited by Quick, p. 21. 



88 MORAL EDUCATlOIvr 

element of moral education. The power to work is 
gained only by working. Everything possible should be 
done to lead the individual to put the pressure on from his 
own will increasingly; but in one or the other form he must 
work, otherwise character deteriorates or atrophies.^ 

It is a pity we obey this principle so little in our present 
education. In certain communities where the modern 
reaction has been carried furthest the schools seem to lack 
moral fibre. The children have never done anything that 
was difficult for them; and so, while bright and quickly 
responsive, they lack stability, continuous self-direction 
and the power to overcome obstacles. One finds this 
error in an occasional abuse of the kindergarten where 
there is too much 'managing' of children, and frequently 
in homes where moral 'coddling' prevails.^ Elaborate 
devices are developed to trick children into doing good.^ 

* "Self-choscn occupations, everything else being equal, are cer- 
tainly the best, but ohiUlren seldom know how to occupy themselves 
sufliciently and with perseverance. Definite tasks — to do this or 
that, till it is finished — secure order better than any desultorj^ play, 
which is liable to end in ennui." — Herbart, Letters and Lectures on 
Education, translated by Felkin, p. 121. 

^ "Is not the exclusively sympathetic and facetious way in which 
most children are brought up today — so different from the educa- 
tion of a hundred years ago, especially in evangelical circles — in 
danger, in spite of its many advantages, of developing a certain 
trashiness of filire? Are there not hereabouts some points of applica- 
tion for a renovated and revised ascetic discipline?" — William 
James, Varieties of Religious Experience , p. 36.'). Compare also 
Herbart, The Science of Education, translated by Felkin, p. 248: 

"Coddling in mor.al matters, just as in all others, is the worst 
means of protecting individuals against the harmfulness of climate. 
Warding off outward cold does not mean increasing warmth; but, 
on the contrary, moral warmth arises for the most part out of true 
work and conflict, in which already existent power is gradually 
firmly established through the stings of external ill." 

' As an example of what not to do in this connection compare 
AuRETTA R. Aldkich, Children: Their Models and Critics, pp. 67-78. 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH WORK 89 

Instead of demanding what is right of the child because it 
is right, his attention is skillfully diverted, schemes are 
arranged to interest him in something else, and finally he 
is brought around to doing the action without knowing it. 
This may smooth the path for the teacher or parent, but it 
is of small moral value to the child. There are times, I 
grant, when the attention of a stubborn child needs to be 
distracted and a conflict should be avoided at all hazards; 
but the child who is habitually kept in line by adventitious 
managing will show a lack of stable self-control. 

John Stuart Mill pointed out that we are in danger of 
raising up a race of men "incapable of doing anything 
which is disagreeable to them." ^ A very little experience 
or even reflection will show the necessity of doing many 
things which are disagreeable to us, if we are to live happily 
and helpfully. Thus there is a moral value in holding 
children to the steady performance, cheerful if possible, 
of tasks they do not like to do, where it is right that they 
should do them. The fact that the work is distasteful to 
the child is no evidence at all that it should not be exacted, 
though rather sentimental modern educators have so mis- 
interpreted the fact. It is true, we want to associate pleas- 
ure with good action in every helpful way, but this should 
be accomplished, not by allowing the child free following 
of whim (which would lead to bad as well as good action) 

1 "It is, no doubt, a very laudable effort, in modern teaching, to 
render as much as possible of what the young are required to learn, 
easy and interesting to them. But when this principle is pushed 
to the length of not requiring them to learn anything but what has 
been made easy and interesting, one of the chief objects of education 
is sacrificed. I rejoice in the decline of the old brutal and tyrannical 
system of teaching, which, however, did succeed in enforcing habits 
of application; but the new, as it seems to me, is training up a race 
of men who will be incapable of doing anything which is disagree- 
able to them." — Autobiography, pp. 52-53. 



00 MORAL EDUCATION 

nor by seeking to manage his whims, but by wakening love 
of the good end and associating our sympathy and ap- 
proval with the effort that leads to it.^ Thus in assign- 
ing work to children our questions should be : Is the work 
adapted to the child's period of development and propor- 
tioned to his whole activity? Is it an element that will 
contribute helpfully to his moral growth? If we can 
answer these questions affirmatively the child should be 
held to the task, whether or not his whim is attracted by it. 
Thus children should contribute helpfully to the life of 
the household. They may or may not like washing 
dishes, making beds, bringing up coal and wood, or mend- 
ing stockings; but this work needs to be done and should 
not have the stigma attached to it of being relegated, wher- 
ever possible, entirely to subordinates whom the child may 
come mistakenly to regard as inferiors. The best way to 
make him reverence simple hand-work is to have him do it, 
and do it helpfully in relation to the needs of those nearest 
him. His little part of the work of the home it is morally 
advisable the child should contribute, because it is right to 
do so; while the more he comes to work from his own will, 
and finally to love the work and convert it into play, the bet- 
ter. Moral education, like all other, must come most of all 
through practice. The child will grow into the best moral 
attitude toward those about him only by practising helpful- 
ness toward them ; and there is no way by which he can 
grow into the desired attitude unless opportunities for 
helpfulness be given him and he be required to fulfill them. 

' Note how a mother learns to love tasks a girl finds it most dis- 
tasteful to do for her younger sister or brotlier. The task itself is 
just as disagreeable in the one case as in the other, but the difference 
in attitude toward the person for whom it is done gives it an entirely 
different meaning. 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH WORK 91 

Professor Adler has sought to apply this principle 
systematically to the children in the Ethical Culture 
Schools, He says in a paper on The Moral Instruc- 
tion of the Young (Ethical Record, July 1889) : 

"Another point * * * is that our classes are organized 
for purposes of practical charity. The pupils collect 
among themselves each month a certain sum, and this is 
used partly to assist in defraying the expenses of an evening 
school for poor children, — partly to purchase comforts and 
delicacies for the sick poor. In the teaching of morals, if 
anywhere, practice should not be divorced from theory." 

This is a step in the right direction, seeking to make 
children practise helpfulness toward the larger human 
world. To make the scheme most helpful, however, the 
children should earn the money and thus contribute from 
what is their own. Even then there would be some 
danger of cultivating that false spirit of patronage, on the 
part of those who have toward those who have not, which 
spoils so much philanthropy. Of all forms of practising 
helpfulness, the giving of money is often the easiest and 
usually the least desirable. Thus the great need is that 
children should contribute what is truly their own — their 
time and effort in simple work — to the welfare of those 
about them. 

The moral value of such work is multiplied if the parent 
is associated with the child in the performance of it. This 
of course means a considerable expenditure of time for the 
parent, but the moral gain to the child far more than com- 
pensates. Thus no mother is morally excusable for doing 
all the housework herself, on the ground that it is easier 
than to teach her children to cooperate. It is not only 
that by such association with the child opportunities for 



92 MORAL EDUCATION 

helpful direction and counsel come to the parent, but the 
right attitude toward the work itself is then developed, and 
the lower form of action is more quickly transformed into 
the higher, Moreover, the general good of companionship 
v/ith children, making possible our deeper understanding 
of them and giving opportunity for that highest education 
that results from contagion of spirit, is realized wonderfully 
when the companionship is in helpful forms of work. 

The formation of the habit of work will proceeJ more 
rapidly if the work required of children is definitely as- 
signed and comes at regular times. The children should 
have stated tasks which they are expected to do without 
constant prompting. However, the principle of regularity 
may easily be carried too far. The power we want to 
cultivate is not the ability to perform a single monotonous 
task, but the power to turn from one kind of action to 
another without wasteful friction. Thus it is a great 
moral advantage if the work demanded of children is 
varied and not over specialized. The very special task 
comes to be performed more and more mechanically, while 
the more varied action gives large human development. 

It is hardly necessary to point out that the most desirable 
form of work for children comes with simple farm life. 
Here is the ideal combination of variety and regularity in 
work that can be done under the best physical conditions. 
City parents, on the contrary, are confronted with two 
opposite evils. The well-to-do, under our present social 
standards, have much difficulty in finding suitable tasks 
for their children. If the work is adventitiously made the 
child resents it, and much of the moral value is lost. The 
situation is complicated by the fact that parents who have 
had to struggle in early life are apt to wish to protect their 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH WORK 93 

children from 'having such a hard time' as they recall. 
Thus they deny their children the very element that gave 
them power, self-control and efficiency. 

As the problem is difficult for prosperous city-dwelling 
parents, there is the more need that they should give 
earnest thought and effort to its solution. It may be well 
to discharge a servant that the children may have some 
really helpful work to do. When all possible is done, the 
problem almost defies solution; but then, well-to-do 
people are rarely compelled to live in the city. They may 
at least go where it is possible to keep a horse the boy may 
take care of, or have a bit of ground in which the children 
may make and care for a garden. Where it is impossible 
to give the children varied and helpful tasks throughout 
the year, there is considerable compensation when this is 
done at least for the vacation, through the summer farm or 
camp. 

For the city poor there is the opposite difficulty with far 
less chance of escape from it. The need is not to find work 
for their children, but to protect them from the over- 
pressure that stunts and kills. And alas! it is just the 
most specialized forms of work for which children can be 
used : ceaseless care of a baby, until the child is worn with 
a premature, enforced motherhood ; or far worse, the daily 
endurance in factory, or what is called home, of some 
fragmentary mechanical action to which the child's supple 
body and mind can be readily habituated at the price of 
his larger potentiality of growth. The exploitation of its 
children is not only the crowning shame of a nation, it is its 
most wasteful crime. No other slavery is so costly as 
economic child-slavery; for in it we pay the life-blood of 
the nation for the transient commercial interest of some 



94 MORAL EDUCATION 

individuals, and invite the premature decrepitude that 
makes a people an easy victim to military foes without and 
moral foes within. 

Good legislation and wise enforcement of it are extremely 
difficult in connection with this problem. Starved parents 
and wicked employers unite to defeat the law and exploit 
the child; and those who try hastily to solve the problem, 
while ignoring certain factors, pass measures that serve 
only to exasperate. Yet here again, the greater the need, 
the more pressing the duty; and what I want to emphasize 
is the fact that every one of us is responsible for every child 
that is stunted. The parent fighting a losing economic 
battle, the employer struggling to meet a merciless compe- 
tition under existing industrial conditions: these are but 
parties to a crime that stains the whole of society. We 
must ask what, on the whole, will give the highest moral 
development to the children, and we must follow unswerv- 
ingly the dictates of that principle in legislation and its 
enforcement. Let me return to our initial point of view: 
everything is bad which does not make the child's life as 
joyous as possible now and as natural a step as it may be 
to the life that follows. 

The school can do much to aid both classes of children; 
for the aim of the school should always be human and never 
merely economic; therefore in school the child's activity 
can be regulated entirely with reference to his best develop- 
ment. The private boarding-school, fulfilling a larger 
measure of the parental function, can go beyond the public 
school in guiding the child's activity; but in both, the moral 
education that comes through work may be furthered in 
four ways: 

1. The school can utilize forms of physical action that 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH WORK 95 

are educative in the highest degree. Manual training has 
already proved itself a priceless instrument of moral cul- 
ture. Its great value is not that it may prepare for certain 
tasks in adult life, but that through creative self-expression 
the child comes into contact with the universe of law and 
his simple deed becomes a doorway to the whole. This 
moral value is far more important than the manual expert- 
ness such work fosters, though that too has a moral 
implication. Nothing else clarifies the spirit so effectively 
as to do something skillfully; and the simpler the deed the 
greater is the clarifying effect. One great value of such 
work as Sloyd^ is its demand for accuracy of execution 
while producing objects which appeal to the child as worth 
while. Such work tends to correct the frequent slovenli- 
ness in the child's performance of household tasks. It is a 
promising sign, too, that simple industrial work is being 
introduced into the schools; not that the economic value 
of the results should be considered, but that the moral 
value of the work is enhanced when it produces what the 
child recognizes to be useful. If instead of an imitation 
bookcase or bureau the child can make a really useful 
ruler or box, and instead of a complicated but purposeless 
arrangement of straws and fibres he can weave a little 
basket which will be of service in the household, his con- 
sciousness of the worth of what he makes multiplies the 
moral value of his constructive activity. 

School gardens furnish another means of giving children 
an opportunity for simple, varied, creative work. Re- 



• Compare the pamphlet on American Sloyd, by Gustaf Laksson, 
Boston, 1900 (?). 



86 MOR.\L EDUCATION 

garclcd as a substitute for farm life tlicv are pitifully in- 
adei|uate, still they can furnish an element of eilucation in 
work possible to nothing else in school life. 

2. The work in direct physical lines is so attractive to 
children that it passes readily into play, which is one of its 
greatest advantages. In another way the school can 
utilize for moral culture those subjects of study in which it 
is less easy to make action spontaneous, and which always 
demand some measure of compelled effort, as mathematics 
and the languages. These subjects are tools rather than 
ends, to be mastered for aims that are ulterior to the study 
itself. It is well to make them as interesting as possible, 
but when this has been done, hanl effort is usually neces- 
sary in order to master them. In mathematics particu- 
larly there must be a definite effort in order to develop the 
power of abstract thinking which the study demands. 
Mathematics is the grannnar of science, a purely abstract 
language for stating and examining the facts and laws of 
science. To make it entirely concrete is to make it some- 
thing else than mathematics. "When a child sees that two 
apples put with two other apples make four apples, it is an 
interesting observation; but it becomes mathematics only 
when he reasons abstractly that two and two make four. 
We have always taught arithmetic too early, and in the 
modern effort to correct the bad results of this, instead of 
pushing the subject further on in the course to the period 
where abstract reasoning rapidly develops in the child, 
we have tried by innumerable devices to make the study 
easy and concrete, thus creating an anomalous subject 
which has in sotne instances lost its educational value. 
Thus where we decide it is wise to teach mathematics. 



MOKAL EDUCATION THROUGH WORK 97 

we should insist upon the hard effort necessary to abstract 
thinking, and so gain not only good results in the par- 
ticular study, but an increased power of concentration 
and self-control. 

3. The school can utilize, for the moral ends of work, 
those subjects the student does not like. Doubtless every- 
one would agree today that it is a waste of life to compel 
a pupil to study mainly what is distasteful to him ; but for 
almost all students there is the need to master some sub- 
ject, not in itself attractive, in order to round out one's 
power. One should then work to master the subject be- 
cause it is right to do so, because the additional element is 
necessary to one's equipment for life. With modern ex- 
periments in election of studies how often this principle 
is disobeyed. One sees a political economist hampered 
all his life because he * did not like languages,' so neglect- 
ed two or three of his most important tools; or a minister 
who 'did not like natural science,' hence missed the most 
valuable balance-wheel in his thinking. Thus by begin- 
ning early and guiding with wisdom, the school can help 
to round out character and develop the power of work by 
holding the student steadily to the faithful mastery of 
subjects not in themselves attractive to him, but neces- 
sary to his best equipment for life, 

4. There is the same moral value, perhaps in greater 
measure, in doing the hard work necessary in every subject 
of study. As in every avenue of life there is some dead 
work, unattractive in itself, that must be done for the 
sake of the end in view, so is it with every study the 
pupil undertakes. To hold the individual to the loyal 
doing of this dead work because it is right and neces- 
sary, however unattractive it may be, is to give him one 



98 MORAL EDUCATION 

of the most precious elements of his equipment for moral 
living.^ 

I need hardly point out how much wisdom is demanded 
of both parent and teacher in order to give just the right 
amount and kind of work most helpful to the individual 
child in the specific period of development he has reached. 
Here, as everywhere in morals, there is just one combination 
that is best, and we can err from it in any direction. It is 
so easy to overburden the child, to press him to a point of 
weariness that is exhausting, or to require of him work 
unsuited to his phase of growth.^ We made the latter mis- 
take in the kindergarten, before modern physiology and 
psychology had taught their lessons, in assigning to 
little children forms of paper-cutting and sewing demand- 
ing too fine a nervous adjustment. Meantime the prob- 
lem faces us at each step of the child's life, and the worst 
solution is to let go and allow the child to drift. We must 
attempt the problem with all the devotion, patience and 
wisdom we can summon. 

A further warning must be given to both parents and 
teachers: work should never be assigned arbitrarily as 

^ " Whoever is able to maintain the order and discipline necessary 
to merely intellectual or knowledge teaching, will leave upon the 
minds of his pupils genuine moral impressions, without even pro- 
posing that as an end. If the teacher has the consummation of tact 
that makes the pupils to any degree in love with the work, so as to 
make them submit with cheerful and willing minds to all the needful 
restraints, and to render them on the whole well-disposed to himself 
and to each other, he is a moral instructor of a high order, whether 
he means it or not." — Bain, Education as a Science, pp. 401-402. 

^ " But above all, external activity must never be so much over- 
stimulated that mental respiration — alternation of acts of concen- 
tration and reflection — is disturbed thereby. There are natures 
with whom, from their earliest years, the teacher's principle must be 
to keep within due limits all external incitements to their activity." 
- Herbaet, The Science of Education, translated by Felkin, p. 241. 



MORAL EDUCATION THROUGH WORK 99 

punishment. Of course, the child should be required as 
far as possible to repair damages he has done : that is one 
of the most helpful elements of discipline. But to assign 
a specific piece of work as punishment for a moral offense 
with which it is not connected, is to render the work dis- 
tasteful, prevent its transformation into free, spontaneous 
action, and so do positive harm instead of attaining the 
moral ends work should further. 

Parents and teachers alike should be alert to discover 
through all the work that is done the bent of the child and 
the special combination of abilities he possesses. For 
work in line with the future vocation and conforming to the 
tendencies of the individual has a high value, since it most 
powerfully awakens the interest that will transform each 
of the lower types of action into the next higher. Such 
work alone is not enough, but it should be the centre of 
our demand. It is absurd to require the individual to 
work in the main at what he is least fitted to do. We 
should focus his activity along the line of his greatest 
power. 

Thus, while education in work is a precious part of our 
moral equipment, it is the sheerest folly to multiply unnec- 
essary obstacles, as was so often done in the older educa- 
tion. We may make life as easy as possible, it is still pain- 
fully difficult, if it he life. So with education: appeal to 
the child's interest in every possible way that is not harm- 
fully adventitious, make every subject as easy and simple 
as possible, and there will be plenty of dead work for all 
educative purposes if we really teach the subjects in hand. 
Similarly, it is not necessary to ask the child to 'make 
bricks without straw,' to wipe the dishes without a cloth, 
or put them on a shelf he cannot reach; to secure the moral 



^^n 



100 MORAL EDUCATION 

value of household work. So we do not need to put the 
child in the way of temptation in order to strengthen his 
character. Remove all unnecessary temptation, make the 
path of right living as smooth and attractive as possible, 
and if the child really live, there will be temptation enough 
and to spare for all purposes of moral culture. 

The moral education work gives should come, then, not 
through unnecessary obstacles and adventitious tasks, but 
by mastering the difficulties that are inevitable in the path 
of right living. We need have no fear that the process of 
transforming work into play may go too far. There is no 
danger that the kingdom of heaven will come too soon. 
The free, spontaneous action, as a rule, expresses a more 
earnest effort than the one partly forced. Thus, while 
holding children to the faithful performance of the work 
necessary for the ends that are worth while, we shoidd 
rejoice at every step in the transforming of painful effort 
into free and joyous action, since that is the law of moral 
growth. 



XI 



THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT: 
ART AND NATURE 

Next in value to the activities of the child as a means of 
moral education is the reaction of the surrounding world 
upon him. This needs to be considered in every phase, 
since we can determine it so much more than is possible 
with the child's action. Of more importance than is 
usually realized are the relatively statical conditions of 
environment. If less powerful in the single impression 
than more active influences, by their steady and insistent 
presence they weave themselves into the very spirit of the 
child. 

Thus the problem of school buildings, furnishings and 
grounds is one, not merely of economic significance, but 
of moral importance. It is hard to exaggerate the moral 
value of light, air and cleanliness in the child's immediate 
environment. Self-respect and aspiration go along with 
breathing good air; and clean, light rooms make for 
moral uprightness. This influence comes first through 
the immediate effect on the physical health and growth 
of the children. Physical soundness is not an indis- 
pensable condition of moral character, and it may co- 
exist with moral depravity, but it is the surest founda- 
tion on which to build a positively good character. It is 
true, the effort to rise above some form of bodily suffering 



102 MOKAL EDUCATION 

will, in essentially nt)l)le natures, often develop a moral 
heroism that exalts and sanctifies character; nevertheless, 
physical health is a predisposing cause of moral soundness, 
and a depressed, poorly de\cloped organism, especially if 
this be due to general conditions rather than a specific 
disease, is apt to lead to distortion of moral character. 

Beyond the immediate physical eiVect, surrounding con- 
ditions may.influence the moral life through the chastening, 
exalting and harmonizing effect of beauty. It is a grave 
mistake to regard beauty as a dispensable luxury or adorn- 
ment of life, ministering only to pleasure. Beauty is 
useful in the highest sense. Without going so far as those 
who regard moral gootlness as only part of the larger 
harmony we call beauty, we may recognize that beauty can 
be utilized as a powerful instrument in giving harmony, 
peace and elevation to the spirit. It is true, ugly forms of 
degeneration appear where beauty is sought merely as a 
means of self-indulgence, but that is true of every good in 
life. Children are seldom in danger of the attitude of the 
{esthetic voluptuary; and quietly and simply beautiful 
grounds, buildings and school-rooms will exercise an 
unobtrusive but cunuilative influence over the child, not 
only fitting him for the conscious appreciation of art later 
on, but ennobling and refining his inner life. 

To exercise this eifect in fullest measure the beauty 
should be adapted to the child's phase of development; to 
his need however, not to the whim of his desire. I am not 
of those who believe that we should study to find just what 
the child likes and then furnish that. To do so would be 
to follow exactly the policy of the worst kind of newspaper, 
which boasts of giving just what the people want; and 
surely its 'children's page' is not an ideal instrument of 



THE MORAL I.VFLUP:NCE OF ART AND NATURE 103 

moral culture. All good teaching must adapt itself to 
those who are to be taught, but it need not give what they 
think they want, and it should always give that which is 
somewhat above the learner's present point of development 
that it may lead him on. 

Moreover, on any plane of development it is possible to 
respond to the highest art. It has been hastily and unwar- 
rantably inferred from the theory of evolution that the child 
and the race begin, both in expression and appreciation, 
with the clumsy and the imperfect, and grow gradually 
toward perfect art. This is simply not true. Of course 
on any plane there must be mastery of the technique of 
expression natural to that plane, but with such mastery, 
the art may be as perfect for one phase of development as 
for another. The baby waves a good-by with a grace and 
beauty of arm and hand movement the best trained actress 
cannot equal. A simple folk-song is as perfect art as a 
Wagner opera. The Hymn to the Dawn in the early Vedic 
poems is as artistic as Milton's Lycidas. An early Greek 
myth may rival Goethe's Faust in the harmony and beauty 
of its artistic expression and interpretation of life. Thus 
life on any plane may have perfect artistic expression, and 
the response to that expression on the same plane is always 
natural and possible. Therefore the adaptation of art to 
the phase of development does not mean beginning with 
slovenly imperfection and working toward artistic har- 
mony; it means that art, while perfect, must be, in both 
content and form, close to the life on the particular plane 
of growth. 

I dwell on this principle because it is so often violated 
today. The art we give children should deal with subjects 
they can appreciate and be expressed in terms they can 



104 MORAL EDUCATION 

understand, but it need not and should not be merely what 
the child thinks he likes. He may express a decided 
preference for some vulgar, ephemeral song over a simple, 
child folk-song from the German, but that is no reason why 
we should feed him the former. Most children prefer 
candy to oatmeal mush, and cake to whole-wheat bread, 
yet the parent who allows the child's caprice to be the guide 
in this matter injures everybody but the doctor. 

Cannot we take a hint from Nature? She does not 
make one kind of sunshine for children and another for 
adults, though I grant you it may be a different sunshine in 
the child's reaction; nor does she make flowers on different 
principles for varying ages of human development. She 
pours out the living flood of beauty, infinite in form but 
one in principle, and we grow in changing appreciation of 
it. Thus there is not one kind of beauty for children 
and another for grown people. The kind of beauty we 
want about children is beauty; not a fashionable adorn- 
ment in obedience* to the changing whim of taste, but 
simple, natural, harmonious beauty.^ In the school 
grounds we need trees well-grouped, grass and flowers. 
The rooms should be spacious, well-lighted, quietly col- 
ored, and adorned with a few simple works of art. The 
subjects of these may well be close to the child's world, and 
the form and color should be simple rather than complex, 
but every picture should be a true work of art. Further, 

' "Reason and observation, as well as my own experience, assure 
me also that it is great poetry — even the greatest — which the young- 
est crave, and upon which they may be fed, because it is the simplest. 
Nature does not write down her sunsets, her starry skies, her moun- 
tains, and her oceans in some smaller style, to suit the comprehension 
of little children; they do not need any such dilution." — Lucy Lar- 
coM, A New England Girlhood Outlined from Memory, p. 135. Hough- 
ton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1889 (?). 



THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART AND NATURE 105 

frequent opportunities should be given the children both to 
liear and sing simple, beautiful music. As no other art so 
completely expresses and directly appeals to the emotional 
life as music, it has a special function in giving harmony 
and serenity to the spirit.^ 

The moral effect of this environment of beauty comes 
largely through its inevitable impression upon the child, 
without his conscious effort. The normal reaction of 
children on beauty is different from that of the cultivated 
adult. Indeed, in our conscious appreciation is a kind of 
withdrawal from the world we appreciate. Perhaps this 
accounts for the element of sadness in our response to the 
beautiful in nature or art. The child'.s reaction is generic, 
an unconscious response of his whole being. If the sun 
shines he plays as buoyantly as the birds sing, without 
stopping to say to himself that the sunshine is beautiful. 
So the presence of an harmonious artistic environment may 
exalt the child's spirit, without reflection or an analysis 
of his sensations on the child's part. To force the beauty 
upon him and compel him to study it reflectively, before he 
is able to appreciate it consciously, may be to do great 
harm: disgusting the child now, and emasculating for 
future use an influence that ought to be powerful when the 
time for the conscious response to it arrives. 

It is not, let me repeat, that the beauty can be too high 
or the art too perfect. Even art whose subjects are far 
beyond the child's comprehension may exercise a good 
influence. The Sistine Madonna that looks down from 

' I do not make the obvious application to literature here, as I 
have reserved that art for discussion in the chapters on indirect 
ethical instruction. It should be noted, however, that the prin- 
ciple does apply unreservedly, and that the literature that is given 
to children on any plane, should be, on that plane, the highest art. 



106 MORAL EDUCATION 

the wall of his school-room may prepare the child, all un- 
consciously to him, to respond later to a loftier ideal of 
motherhood, and uncomprehended music may deepen 
the rhythm of his soul. But to force the child into an 
attitude normal to the adult defeats what should be our 
aim now and later. 

Much of our current teaching violates this principle. 
We have been so anxious to enrich the child's spirit and 
enlarge his opportunities that we have made the same 
mistake in teaching beauty in art and nature, we made 
earlier in teaching science, namely, arranging the material 
by the logic of the mature mind, and teaching it in harmony 
with the adult attitude. It is difficult for us to realize how 
little even cultivated children get consciously from works 
of art that are full of meaning and beauty for us. Not long 
ago I took two children, who had always lived in good sur- 
roundings, leisurely through the Pitti Palace in Florence, 
not forcing in any way their interest or attention, but trying 
to answer such questions as they asked in the presence of 
the marvelous paintings the gallery holds. Three months 
later the children were overheard conversing about their 
visit to the Pitti Palace. The girl, eleven, said: "Do you 
remember the picture of that woman who was killing her- 
self with a snake ? " (a rather commonplace and theatrical 
Cleopatra by Guido Reni). "Yes," answered the boy of 
eight, " and do you remember that lovely bath-tub ? " That 
was all! The host of wonderful pictures remained un- 
mentioned. And yet I do not mean that the experience 
was of no value. Rather I believe the unconscious influ- 
ence was far beyond what the child could recognize or 
state. The touch upon his soul was lasting; and art may 
always have a little nearer meaning because he wandered 



THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART AND NATURE 107 

through the galleries of Florence. But that good effect 
could come only if the child's attitude was not forced and 
made over into an anomalous imitation of the adult's. 
Thus we need to make the child's environment as beautiful 
as possible, but to let this act as a quiet background whose 
influence must be largely unconscious. 

So far I have spoken only of the school. Obviously the 
principle applies quite as significantly to the home, though 
there it is less easy to carry out universally, owing to the 
economic conditions under which so large a part of our 
people must live. It is our fault if we do not apply it to 
the schools, and more completely in proportion to the local 
difiiculty of carrying it out in the homes. The poorer the 
quarter of the city, the more crowded and sordid the con- 
ditions of its home life, the greater is the need for spacious, 
beautiful school grounds and buildings, with artistic rooms. 
It is a sardonic evidence of the breakdown of our democ- 
racy that we reverse this principle, putting the most beau- 
tiful school environment just where the children need it 
least, because its main physical and moral effects are 
accomplished in their homes. 

However, there are difficulties in the homes of the rich 
as well as in those of the poor. The unavoidable ugliness 
of poverty is perhaps less morally harmful than the gor- 
geous ugliness of extravagant and tasteless expenditure of 
wealth. If dirt is 'matter out of place,' certainly there is 
more of it in some rich homes than in many poor ones. 
The effect of over rich and tasteless surroundings is not 
only to benumb the spirit but to give false ideals and make 
the child blas^ before he has had time to live. The * god- 
dess of limits' presides as rigidly over our enjoyments as 
over our arts. It is impossible to eat more than five or 



108 MORAL EDUCATION 

six good meals a day and really enjoy them; and to heap 
up even pleasing objects in our environment beyond rigid 
limits is to produce moral nausea. Perhaps the greatest 
folly of vast wealth is that one can do so little helpfully 
with it for oneself or for others. 

Thus it is as necessary to bring simplicity, limitation and 
harmony into the homes of the rich, as to bring light, air, 
space, beauty to the homes of the poor. The problem of 
the poor is the more pitiable, however, because they can 
do much less to help themselves, since they are so cruelly 
handicapped by our present economic and social condi- 
tions. Still, even with the very poor, how much can be 
done by a little initiative and awakening of courage and 
desire. This has been shown by the work of every social 
settlement in transforming the homes in the district in 
which it has been set down. It is evident that for parents 
to improve the home conditions about their children, there 
is needed not only some measure of economic freedom 
and resource, but conscious desire and effort, and that of 
the two elements in the solution of the problem the second 
is even more important than the first. 

There is the same need then in home and school; where 
one fails we must seek to compensate through the other. 
It is a problem of moral education, incumbent on the whole 
people and intimately touching the national welfare, that 
everything possible should be done to make the surround- 
ings of children in home, school and community as simple, 
clean and artistically beautiful as possible. 

The moral influence of beauty may come to children 
even more through the nature world than through art. 
Obviously, the two cannot be completely separated, for 
human art reaches some of its most educative expression 



THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART AND NATURE 101 

by cooperating with nature, as in the artistic planning o'. 
grounds, gardens and shrubbery. In a large way, how- 
ever, we may distinguish between the living nature world 
and the creations of human genius. Speaking metaphoric- 
ally, we may say that nature is God's art, while art is 
man's highest nature. Therefore, while art goes further 
in the expression of human life, it does not attain the 
perfect serenity, simplicity and harmony of nature. That 
is why Nature is so calming to us that we turn to her more 
and more from the stress of our modern life. Children are 
even closer than we to the great Nature-mother, and if they 
can have constant opportunity for contact with her beauty, 
it will build itself into their very spirits, giving a dignity 
and harmony difficult to gain in any other way. It is not 
that we should force the beauty upon the child's conscious- 
ness: that is as fatal in the case of nature as of art; but that 
we should give him ample opportunity to live in the lap 
of his best nurse — Nature. 

It is not only the beauty but the truth of nature that is 
of direct value for moral education. Nature never lies to 
us; there is nothing there comparable to the garment of 
conventionality and deceit worn by human society. Na- 
ture is real as every unspoiled child is real, not understand- 
ing pretense and affectation. Thus Nature is the great 
teacher of sincerity. This most essential moral quality 
will be deepened in children by living contact with the out- 
door world as is possible in no other way. 

There is a still deeper element of moral culture that may 
come from Nature, not simply by responding to her beauty 
and truth, but by acting in harmony with her laws. I have 
already touched upon this in discussing moral education 
through work, bu* it is so important as to demand special 



no MORAL EDUCATION 

treatment. Human laws change and fail, society involves 
much that is irrational, but the natural world is one of 
regular, hard, inexorable law. In human society, in the 
conflict between men, it is possible to 'succeed' sometimes 
by lying and trickery, but not when your action touches 
nature. If you plant chaff instead of grain, nothing grows. 
If you shirk deep, regular plowing your crop is lessened. 
If you try to live without good food, sleep, fresh air, physic- 
al action, you are as surely punished as the days and 
nights succeed each other. Life and growth are possible 
only by obedience to natural laws: we are free to obey and 
live, or to break ourselves against the iron walls of nature's 
laws and die; there is no third freedom of caprice. 

There are two elements in the obedience required of us : 
conformity and action. These are, indeed, two phases of 
one moral quality; the one being harmony with law, the 
other work in fulfillment of law. A wonderful develop- 
ment of character results from these two simple elements 
of obedience demanded of us by the natural world. Some 
of the strongest and worthiest men and women are built 
up by the simple struggle of life in obedience to necessity. 

Consider such men and women as Pierre Loti presents 
in his Iceland Fishcrnian, which interprets so truly the 
actual Breton fisher-life. From the coast of Brittany all 
the able-bodied men go away in March to Iceland or New- 
foundland, leaving the towns and villages inhabited by 
women and little children and old men. In the autumn 
the boats return — not all of them, for nearly every season 
some are lost, and the walls of the little chapels are covered 
with tablets asking prayers for the sailors who went down 
in certain storms. The returning boats bring fish repre- 
senting perhaps one hundred and fifty or two hundred 



THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART AND NATURE 111 

dollars for each sailor as the season's catch. Hard, nar- 
row lives, full of struggle with the most treacherous aspect 
of nature, involving grinding hardship, for the women 
even more than the men; and yet if France could only 
boast that all her citizens were like the Breton fisher-folk, 
there would have been no Dreyfus scandal and Paris would 
not hold the elements of corruption that eat the heart out 
of her life today. 

We must interpret moral education in terms large enough 
to include such training in the school of necessity, if we are 
not to lose its essential meaning. Thus we need to bring 
children into contact with this nature world, not so as to 
crush or depress them with its inexorable forces, but to 
give them the strength that comes from simple obedience 
and work in harmony with its laws. Here again the 
superior opportunities of farm life are evident, not only 
because its activities are more liberal and varied, but 
because they are in direct contact with nature. The care 
of animals, the work in the garden, the thousandfold 
activities of farm life, all teach the regular, hard, beneficent 
laws of nature, and, slowly but steadily, active harmony 
with them is built into the very structure of the child's 
instincts and habits. 

What of the vast number of children who have little or no 
opportunity for regular contact with nature?* They fur- 
nish our grave problem. There are three ways in which 
we can work toward its solution : 

1. Everything possible should be done to stimulate the 
movement, already strong, away from the cities toward 
country or at least suburban life. Parents should be 
taught to recognize that it is to the child's moral interest 
to give him his early years in the country rather than in 



112 MORAL EDUCATION 

the city; and where that is impossible, or the sacrifice of 
other interests would be too great, earnest thought and 
attention must be given to compensating for the influ- 
ences the child loses. It is true, a qualifying principle 
comes in here : it is wrong to desert those who need us, 
and the interest of the family must be considered in rela- 
tion to the larger need of society. Still, it cannot be 
doubted that the movement away from the congested 
centres, on the part of thoughtful people, is sane and 
right. 

2. Each of us should recognize it as his personal duty to 
advance in every way the movements working to change 
the character of our cities from economic swarming-hives 
to human centres where life may be sane and nature within 
the reach of all. Public parks should be put down in each 
little part of the crowded sections of the city, instead of 
being segregated for show in the fashionable districts. 
Each school should have, not only beautiful grounds about 
it, but the gardens, mentioned in the previous chapter, 
where the children may cultivate plants and flowers, and 
get something of the first-hand contact with nature. If the 
land is high in price, the greater is the need to pull down a 
tenement and open up a breathing-space where a bit of 
nature may come in to bless the children. No economic 
cost is to be weighed against the moral gain that would 
thus come. Might it not even be well to make deliberate 
arrangements in connection with each school, in the 
crowded section of a city, for keeping and raising a few 
animal pets, that the children might have, if only in a 
slight measure, the moral good that comes from caring for 
such friends ? 

3. If we cannot bring city children into contact with 



THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART AND NATURE 113 

nature throughout the year, we may often do so for the 
most beautiful part of it. While there are obvious moral 
evils in the idle life of typical ' summer resorts/ the grow- 
ing tendency to take children to farms, camps and villages 
for a part of the summer is full of promise. Unfortunately 
this is still confined largely to the children of the prosper- 
ous, though fresh-air charities take an increasing number 
of children each summer to the country for a few days or 
weeks. If direct contact with nature is so important for 
moral education, is it possible that we may come to regard 
it as a public duty to give all children an annual oppor- 
tunity for such experience ? May we come to feel that it is 
as much a function of the state to cooperate with parents 
in sending all city children to v/ell-managed and carefully 
instructed summer farms and camps, as to provide build- 
ings and teachers for ordinary instruction? I have no 
answer to the question, but certainly the experiment would 
be less dangerous than free meals to school children as 
tried in England, and hardly more so than free text-books. 
Meantime vacation schools, so wisely begun recently in 
certain of the larger cities, can be utilized to furnish some 
measure of opportunity for contact with nature. The 
great need is that we should realise the importance of giving 
the child such opportunity. If we appreciate fully the 
need we can find the means to answer it. Obviously, wide 
cooperation is necessary to any thorough solution of the 
problem. Every parent and teacher who is awake must 
not only seek to give his children sane and active contact 
with nature, but must aid in stirring the general conscious- 
ness, that this powerful means for educating harmony, sin- 
cerity and active obedience to law may be utilized for all 
children. 



XII 

MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL 
ATMOSPHERE 

We have studied the effect of environment in art and 
nature upon children; we shall turn now to the living 
human world. Before studying the dynamic influence of 
its institutions and of persons, let us consider another force 
that is relatively statical — the influence of the social atmos- 
phere. This is a real, if subtle, force which must be reck- 
oned with for good or evil, though it is a composite result 
from the action of many other forces. Into its formation 
enter the influence of the state and lesser institutions, the 
cumulative tradition and social heredity that perpetuate 
the experience of one generation in the life of the next, the 
effect of the action both of the few powerful individuals, 
who set a standard of behavior for imitation, and of the 
uncounted multitude of men and women. Yet composite 
as it is, the social atmosphere once formed becomes an 
important influence over every aspect of the life of the 
individual. Without the most searching analysis we get 
no hint of the extent to which our ideals and aims as well 
as actions are merely echoes of the social type. Since this 
must always be so, we need to recognizje- it and utilize the 
force as far as possible in education. It is, however, so 
difficult to control that evil effects resulting from it must 
often be counteracted by other agencies. There are two 



MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE 115 

different aspects of the influence of the social atmosphere 
upon children, and we shall consider them in turn: (1) The 
effect of the adult society surrounding children; (2) The 
effect of the child society in which they live. 

Children are almost as much influenced as we are by the 
general adult society about them, — sometimes I think they 
are much more influenced by it. Consider how difficult 
it is to keep a child simple and unspoiled, with healthy 
tastes, in a society where money, dress and fashion are 
dominant. It can be done: one knows cases where in 
the worst social conditions it has been done; but the task 
is hard indeed. Where the parents are careless, in such 
an atmosphere, the children inevitably slip into the over- 
dressed, precocious imitations of the v/orst adults in their 
environment. When the parents themselves belong to 
the vicious social type, there is little to be done except 
to try to reform the parents. 

Where the social atmosphere is one of grinding poverty, 
sordid aims and moral dirt, the difficulties in another way 
are even greater. Apart from the direct danger of moral 
contamination through criminal individuals, it is all but 
impossible to give children a sweet, healthy, clean moral 
attitude in such a society. The problem in both cases is 
made more difficult by the fact that our modern city life, 
vdth its material aims, industrial tension and rapid means 
of transit, involves far more acute separation of rich and 
poor than was true of older societies or than is found in towns, 
villages and farm life today. Those parents who are for- 
tunate enough to live in a community where the social 
atmosphere is sound and helpful should be deeply thankful. 

Where parents find themselves in an unwholesome at- 
mosphere what is to be done ? The first and most positive 



116 MORAL EDUCATIOM 

and worthy solution is to strive to maintain an ideal social 
atmosphere in the home. There are few tasks that de- 
mand more moral heroism than this, and therefore few 
that are so educative to all concerned. The worst thing 
about a bad social type is that it does not meet us in rare 
crises when we might summon our courage for a fight, but 
insinuates its influence by ceaseless iteration in the routine 
of daily life. We must steel ourselves to the more consist- 
ent effort to stand out against it where it is wrong. If our 
neighbors persist in overdressing their children, we must 
continue to clothe ours simply, in spite of sneers, taking the 
children into our confidence and seeking to give them a 
courage and appreciation of the ideal involved that will 
save them from moral humiliation. We must' not give 
way to the temptation to emulate our acquaintances in 
giving children's parties that are vicious imitations of the 
most artificial adult society.^ If the ideals in the general 
atmosphere are grossly materialistic, we should strive the 
harder to keep the conversation within the home upon a 
better plane and steadily hold more worthy aims before the 
children. If, on the other hand, we are dwellers in an 
over crowded tenement, we can strive to keep our rooms 
clean, our clothes neat and our talk free from vulgarity, no 
matter how weary we are with the hopeless battle and how 
filthy is our moral and physical environment. 

^ "Fashionable parties for children, those abominations upon the 
face of the earth, are but seasoned condiments of that most whole- 
some food for the young soul, social contact with its peers. That 
so simple, so sweet, so holy, and so necessary a thing as the com- 
mingling of little children in play and work with those of their own 
age and ability, should be twisted and turned into an artificial fash- 
ionable party, seems, to the real lover of childhood, incredible, save 
for the sad fact that it is." — Elizabeth Harrison, A Study of 
Child-Nature from the Kindergarten Standpoint, p. 58, 



MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE 117 

It is further possible to secure a better moral atmosphere 
by utilizing the various opportunities at our command for 
segregating ourselves from undesirable social groups. The 
most obvious of these opportunities is to change our place 
of residence. Usually we move for our pleasure, our busi- 
ness convenience, or our vanity — to be among people of 
higher social and economic position. Of course, moving 
in obedience to such motives by no means assures a more 
moral environment. We need to recognize that the prob- 
lem of our place of residence is centrally the problem of the 
moral atmosphere to which we would subject our children; 
and we must be willing to sacrifice a considerable amount 
of pleasure, convenience and vanity for their moral welfare. 

It is true, fleeing from evil is a negative solution, if often 
necessary, usually somewhat cowardly; and every attempt 
at social segregation, even when dictated by the highest 
aims, involves three evils : 

1. There is the sad desertion, on the part of those who 
can go, of the less fortunate who are tied to the bad en- 
vironment or unawakened to its evil influences. Rich 
or poor, the more distorted the social type, the greater 
is the need for every unit family that stands for some- 
thing saner and higher. One of the most perplexing 
problems in modern city life arises from the widespread 
desertion of the city by the better middle class. We can- 
not say they should have remained, but their going com- 
plicates the problem. 

2. There is the less evident, but none the less real danger 
of dwarfing the segregated. He who cuts himself ojf from 
any part of humanity does so at his own moral risk. Human 
nature never atrophies quite so hopelessly as when a group 
for its own selfish interest cuts itself off from the whole. 



118 MORAL EDUCATION 

Of course this is much worse when the segregation is for 
comfort, pleasure or vanity; but even the pursuit of .a 
moral end may be selfish if it is sought only for ourselves 
apart from the good of the whole. There is no meaner or 
more harmful man than the one who prays God's blessing 
only on his own family, and — he never gets blessed.^ 

3. The segregation which began for moral reasons 
almost inevitably becomes artificial in time, and depends 
upon family, money, social and industrial opportunity, and 
not upon moral endeavor. The social settlement is the 
great effort to stem this tide of the higher selfishness and 
reintegrate segregated portions of humanity. In the 
ideals of its leaders and the experience of its working 
hitherto, it is found that this reintegration is quite as 
helpful for those who come primarily to give as for those 
who were expected to receive.^ 

Yet even in the social settlement is some measure of 
segregation. The worker's hands are upheld by his asso- 
ciates. A little social atmosphere is created within a 

^ "Nothing so deadens the sympathies and shrivels the power of 
enjoyment as the persistent keeping away from the great opportuni- 
ties for helpfuhiess and a continual ignoring of tlie starvation struggle 
which makes up tlie life of at least half the race. To shut one's self 
away from that half of the race life is to shut one's self away from 
the most vital part of it ; it is to live out but half the humanity which 
we have been born heir to and to use but half our faculties." — Jane 
Addams, The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements, in 
Philanthropy and Social Progress, p. 11. 

^ " Not only the obligation, but the joy, of thus entering into natural 
and real relations with others, rather than trying to create artificial 
and strained relations as dole-dispensers and friendly visitors, is 
being brought home in many ways to many hearts. When we have 
learned to value the friendship of the woman who washes our clothes, 
and the man who carts off our rubbish, we shall find it easier to under- 
stand our neighbors, whether poor or rich." — James O. S. Hunting- 
ton, Philanthropy and Morality, in Philanthropy and Social 
Progress, by Jane Addams, et al., pp. 200-201. 



MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE 119 

larger one in a way impossible to the average family in the 
district. Moreover, the social worker is a trained and 
cultivated, matured man or woman, with independently 
established ideals of life, while we are considering the influ- 
ence of the social atmosphere on plastic children whose 
ideals are forming in response to its type. Thus we are 
compelled to face a very perplexing dilemma. We must 
segregate our children socially in some measure if we can, 
and to do so involves grave moral danger. Hence we must 
balance one principle against the other, and seek, not a 
compromise, but a moral proportion of the two. 

The solution of the difficulty comes upon a higher plane. 
The segregation involves harm through selfishness. If it 
is sought, not for the interest of the individual apart, but 
for the sake of his largest service to the whole, the moral 
danger is mainly obviated. For instance, we approve of a 
temporary withdrawal from the world for the sake of 
returning to more effective service. This justifies our 
taking four years for college, or periods for rest and travel. 
Even Jesus had his forty days in the wilderness, and every 
prophet and teacher has felt the necessity of periods of 
withdrawal for the sake of the largest service of humanity. 

It is the same solution we must find for the problem of 
our relation to different social groups. Any measure of 
social segregation is right and safe only as it leads to the 
closest union with humanity in helpful service in the whole 
of life. Even with this aim danger is present: it is so easy 
to forget the end in the pleasant means. Yet a good prin- 
ciple should not be given up or obscured because people 
abuse it. Thus we must accept, in so far as we are free 
to choose, that form and measure of social segregation 
which will help to mature, in us and in our children, the 



120 MORAL EDUCATION 

most effective and independent moral personality, capable 
of the largest human service. This moral aim of human 
service must be kept constantly before us, and we should 
rejoice in renouncing the temporary separation as fast as 
its educational end is accomplished. 

Under the guidance of this principle can we not see the 
moral place and value of the different forms of segregation 
possible in the conditions of our life? It is not only by 
change of residence that v/e can influence the moral atmos- 
phere about our children. Any institution that brings 
into contact with each other people who hold similar moral 
ideals is developing a specific moral atmosphere that 
counteracts the evil in the general social type. The best 
illustration I can give of this force is the work of the New 
York Ethical Society under the leadership of that moral 
prophet, Felix Adler. Not only by its direct service in 
educational, political and philanthropic ways, but by join- 
ing the hands of people who in the great industrial and 
social maelstrom hold to moral aims or hunger for them, 
the Ethical Society has given its members much of the ad- 
vantage of social segregation, without removing them from 
the world that needs their help and can so vitally refresh 
and instruct their spirits. 

This type of influence is exerted by every sound church, 
whose aim is not salvation apart but the best life for its 
members in harmony with the most effective service of the 
social whole. It is difficult to state strongly enough the 
power of such a church to create a lesser social atmosphere 
that will uphold and stimulate the members of the institu- 
tion and mold their ideals of life. So with the effect of 
Young Men's Christian Associations and the multitude of 
organizations for which they are the prototype. Like the 



MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE 121 

churches, these may exercise a strong influence for good 
over their members through the moral atmosphere they 
create; yet if they hold themselves apart with a better- 
than-thou attitude, their most devoted members are apt to 
degenerate into the effeminate moral weaklings so despised 
by all sound men. 

All that has been said of the influence of the adult so- 
ciety in molding the character of our children applies with 
multiplied force to the effect of the child society; and the 
same principle must guide our efforts to regulate the latter. 
Schools are the most obvious means of bringing the atmos- 
phere of a specific child society to bear upon our children. 
By sending a child to a particular day-school we determine 
the moral atmosphere that is about him for a large part of 
his waking life, and when the school is one at which the 
child regularly lives three-fourths of the year, it is the 
relatively constant social influence upon him. 

Unfortunately, here, as in the problem of residence, our 
action is governed largely by motives of class distinction. 
These motives are shown, not only in sending children to 
fashionable private schools : even the public school, demo- 
cratic as we boast it to be, expresses much of the class sepa- 
ration that mars our society. A school building naturally 
gathers together the children living in the neighborhood; 
and we have seen how different classes are separated in resi- 
dence districts. Moreover, what parent, regarding him- 
self as of the better class but compelled by poverty to live 
in a social environment he considers beneath him, will not 
strive, if there be any chance of success, to have his children 
transferred to a school in some other part of the com- 
munity? Undoubtedly there is justification for this atti- 
tude when it is inspired by moral aims and not by vanity. 



123 MORAL EDUCATION 

for one bad child may poison a whole child society. If 
only one were sure that the transfer would give a better 
moral environment for one's children! Occasionally the 
worst phases of child society are found among people who 
regard themselves as of the better class, but who have little 
time and interest for association with their children, and so 
give opportunity for poisonous influences to creep in and 
spread by contagion. 

Furthermore, all segregation of children from the general 
child world involves the same evils we have studied in con- 
nection with separation from groups of adult humanity. 
To send a child to a socially exclusive private school may 
or may not be to protect him from evil influences and bring 
a helpful atmosphere to bear upon him; but even if this 
good is attained y it is bought at the price of a certain loss 
of relation to the larger world which the child can help and 
from which he has much to learn. Children cannot be 
taught too early that it is their business not to let "evil 
communications corrupt good manners," but to regard 
every element of good influence they have enjoyed as so 
much obligation to live to a standard above that of less 
fortunate children. I do not mean that we should make 
them moral prigs, thanking God they are not as other 
children, — the prig may be no worse than the vicious 
person, he is certainly no better, — I do mean that we 
should strive as early and as fast as possible to make 
their moral character independent, active instead of pas- 
sive with reference to environment. 

On this basis, then, I think we may say that the public 
school should be the rule, the private school the exception. 
Children should have the larger, freer contact with a mixed 
group of all sorts of children, just so far as we can dare to 



MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE 123 

trust them; and the limitations of this wider contact 
should be for specific reasons in individual cases. Of 
course I am not considering the relative excellence of pri- 
vate and public schools in equipment and teaching, nor the 
great service the private school can do the other by setting 
a standard possible only with a larger expenditure of 
money, and by avoiding the evils of centralization and 
uniformity toward which our public schools in some com- 
munities are tending. We are dealing here with one point, 
the influence of the social atmosphere in a child society; 
and in that aspect of the problem, the larger measure of 
democracy in the public school gives it an advantage which 
should never be foregone except for a specific greater good. 
Perhaps the problem can be seen most clearly if we take 
the extreme case of an ' only child.' \Vhere there is but one 
child in the family the educational problem is very difficult, 
since there is no chance within the family for the education 
that comes from the free play of the child's will with the 
wills of other children, and this discipline must always be 
sought outside. If now the parent makes the mistake of 
employing a private tutor for such a child, no excellence 
of teaching can compensate for the fatal loss of the 
influence of a general child society. Thus there is even 
a positive value in the large roomful of children in the 
public school, where little individual care and attention 
can be given the pupils.^ We want individual care and at- 
' jntion for each child, but even more the child needs con- 
act with a wide representative human world ; and nothing 
can take its place or compensate for the lack of it. 

' " It is necessary to treat people as individuals ; but it does them 
a world of good sometimes to treat a great many of them together, 
and to let them get used to it as best they may. ' — Le Baron 
Russell Briggs. School, College and Character, p. 46. 



124 MORAL EDUCATION 

A very different form of social segregation occurs where 
the separation is in regard to age and sex with no immediate 
reference to class distinction or moral character. Ob- 
viously such segregation need not directly violate the 
principles of democracy. Still our main argument applies 
without reservation. The child needs contact with the 
general human world, with adults and children of both 
sexes and all ages. Any separation from the whole of 
society is to be admitted only for a specific gain greater 
than the loss, and only if through the separation a more 
vital union with humanity is made possible. 

Particularly important is the application of our principle 
to the question of the segregation of the sexes. The moral 
atmosphere is much more sane and clean where men and 
women, boys and girls, meet in natural human relation- 
ship. Always there is a loss of a powerful lever for good 
conduct and a force in molding sound ideals where the 
sexes are separated in the larger areas of their activity. 
Thus coeducation should be the rule, the separation of 
the sexes the exception, admitted only where we believe 
the specific gain more than compensates for the moral loss.^ 
Further, it is most important that children should be con- 
stantly in touch with both parents and influenced by teach- 
ers of both sexes, if the best moral results are to be attained. 

It must be frankly recognized, however, that the sepa- 
ration from the whole of society of a group of individuals 
alike in age, sex and interest gives a tremendous stimulus 
to organization and activity. This in its bad form is the 
'gang' spirit; in its good aspect it is the instinct that 

* In advocating coeducation, I do not mean identical education 
for the two sexes; and I recognize fully the incidental harm that has 
followed the opening of men's courses to women without reference 
to the different needs and problems of the latter. 



MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE 125 

makes one desire to be a part of the time with one's peers 
or one's kind in the strict sense. A man needs some associa- 
tion with men friends into which the wives and children 
do not enter. A woman is greatly helped by some contact 
with other women apart from her husband and children. 
In the same way the boy or girl is helped by some regular 
contact with a group of his or her own sex and age. But 
to be helpful this special form of society must be kept in its 
place. It is the minor rather than the major element; 
the moment it becomes the main form of association its 
influence involves harm, since the moral atmosphere it 
creates is incomplete and becomes distorted. 

One of the best examples of the good and evil of this form 
of segregation is found in the great English schools for 
boys. It is well known how strong an influence for good 
they have been. The boy goes away from home, becomes 
a member of a vigorous society of his peers, learns self- 
dependence, responds to the moral standards that prevail, 
and under a wise master is fitted for manly life. Yet 
how grave is the loss of contact with the home, with the 
general human society, and how artificial and sometimes 
false and harmful are the moral standards growing up in 
such a school. Ennis Richmond has stated this strikingly 
in Through Boyhood to Manhood, p. 21 : 

"I know many a boy who will take a bad 'hack' on the 
shin (is there any pain more thrilling ?) in a football match 
as though for him pain did not exist, and yet who would 
not hesitate to make his whole family uncomfortable in the 
holidays if he has a cold or a headache." 

The same author sums up the principle on p. 27: 

" An education which is evolved from the laws and rules 
of a society which forocenturies has based these laws upon 



126 MORAL EDUCATION 

the contact of boys with boys is not enough unless it is 
supplemented, governed and controlled by some outside 
influence, unless this influence points to some infinitely 
higher and nobler standard than could ever be found in a 
society which bases the motives for its actions on the ap- 
proval of the members of that society itself." 

In our own country the most striking illustration of this 
form of social segregation is found in the boys' (and in 
lesser measure the girls') clubs that have sprung up so 
widely within a decade. These have proved masterly 
instruments for combatting the worst evils in the crowded 
districts of great cities, and have given the 'gang' spirit 
a healthy and helpful form of expression, furnishing as they 
do a natural outlet for the restlessness and enthusiasm of 
children and young people, within a healthy moral atmos- 
phere. Indeed, the movement to form these clubs and the 
influence resulting from them assume almost the propor- 
tions of a moral and religious crusade.^ To avoid harm- 
ful results, however, these clubs for special groups must be 
kept in close relation to the home and the larger human 
world. If they become substitutes for the home the result 
is disastrous, since the specific benefit is attained for the 
individual at the expense of breaking his basal natural 
relationships and dwarfing his power to give and to take 
helpfully in relation to humanity.^ 

' The work of Rev. William Byron Forbush, author of The Boy 
Problem, is one of the best iUustrations of what is being done in this 
field, and the magazine of which he is editor, How to Help Boys, 
quarterly, Boston, gives full information regarding the movement. 

^ Compare Stanton Coit in his suggestive little book on Neighbor- 
hood Guilds, pp. 48-49: 

"Nor have I any less misgivings as to the ultimate effects of young 
men's clubs in the Christian Associations when unconnected with 
clubs for sisters and fathers and mothers. The boy gets a wholly 



MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE 127 

Thus any measure or form of social segregation is justi- 
fiable only if its whole result is a stronger moral person- 
ality, more helpful to the whole human world. Any limit- 
ing of the broadest relationship to humanity, if tempora- 
rily necessary, should be renounced gladly at the earliest 
moment we can safely do so. We must limit, correct and 
supplement the influence of Nature, but we should never 
supplant her. We can teach the child democracy only by 
allowing him to practise it. Every special relation he sus- 
tains to a group or an individual must merge in the larger re- 
lation to the whole human world . He can learn to deal help- 
fully with humanity only by dealing helpfully with humanity. 

Thus there can be no greater mistake than in over 
regulation of child life. This applies alike to work and 
play, government, discipline, the social atmosphere.^ I 

perverted view of sociability, he soon regards it as a relation which 
only men with men are capable of ; and after he marries, he will be so 
unaccustomed to the idea of comradeship and conversation with 
women that when he craves social pleasures of an intellectual type 
he will turn away from, home to the political club or even the public- 
house. I have often visited the large gatherings of young men in the 
Young Men's Christian Associations, but never without alarm. 
Where are the sisters and sweethearts and fathers and mothers of 
these young men? And why are these men drawn off here by them- 
selves evening after evening? Can there be a doubt that such insti- 
tutions, in spite of their good intention, are hostile to the social life 
of the family and to the intellectual and moral companionship of the 
sexes?" 

^ " Suffice it briefly to remember that punctilious and constant 
supervision is burdensome alike to the supervisor and those he 
watches over, and is apt therefore to be associated on both sides with 
deceit, and thrown off at every opportunity — and also that the need 
for it grows with the degree in which it is used, and that at last every 
moment of its intermittence is fraught with danger. Further, it 
prevents children from knowing and testing themselves, and learning 
a thousand things which are not included in any pedagogic system, 
but can only be found by self-search. Finally, for all these reasons, 
the character which is formed outside the will of its possessor, either 



12S MORAL EDUCATION 

read through not long ago one of the recent educational 
Utopias, with a sense of increasing depression. It was all 
so well arranged, every week of the year and hour of the 
day accounted for, the most skillfully devised and paternally 
kind system planned to make all the children 'nice' ;dl 
the time; but somehow there was no chance for humanity 
to get in. No! one does not want to visit the kingdom of 
heaven on a 'personally contlucted excursion.' Better 
the great, irregular, free, rough human world, with all the 
waste nature and freedom involve, than the most perfect 
Utopia where everything is done from above, and the 
children are manufactured, instead of being allowed under 
wise guidance and corrective supervision to groiv. Even 
our supervision may easily meddle too much. Fights, 
swimming in dangerous places, playing marbles 'for 
keeps,' recklessly climbing trees, are all (juestionable; and 
yet just such experiences may cooperate in molding a 
good, sound, healthy manhood.^ We must risk something 
if any good is to be obtaineil; wasteful as freedom is, 
nothing can compensate for its abrogation. 



remains weak or distorted, according as the outlets which the indi- 
vidual finds be many or few." — Hehbaut, The Science of Education, 
translated by Felkin, pp. 97-98. 

' Compare Henry \. Shute, The Real Dian/ of a Real Boy. 
Whether or not tliis little book is entirely what it purports to be, 
it is an interesting study of the effect of vigorous, largely uncon- 
trolled boyhood, involving the active struggle of one with his 
equals, in molding strong character. 



XIII 

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN HOME AND 
SCHOOL 

More powerful in molding character than the relatively 
statical environment of the child is the government to 
which he is subjected. In fact, the direct control of the 
child exercised by those persons who have authority over 
him is the all-pervading force, guiding his work and play, 
molding, or at least modifying his environment, mediating 
between him and the universe of law. Thus this dynamic 
influence is the very centre of the whole problem of moral 
education, I wish first to consider the principles of this 
control in those institutions of which the child is a member — 
the home and the school — and then to study the problem of 
personal discipline. 

Institutions are less perfect, just and unvarying than 
nature, since they spring partly from the imperfect and 
disturbing cause of human reason, but because human 
reason is consciously at work in them they represent nature 
carried up to a higher plane of expression. Institutions 
are natural just in so far as they are truly rational. It is 
difficult to separate the influence of institutions from other 
moral forces, since they have developecT step by step with 
the evolution of personality. It would be impossible for 
*^ any one of us to say what part of our tendencies in char- 
acter comes from the institutions under which we live, but 



130 MORAL EDUCATION 

surely a little reflection will show that the nature and spirit 
of those institutions has been woven into the very texture 
of our minds. 

The supreme institution in government is the state; and 
it is very evident what different types of character tend to 
develop under democracy or monarchy, aristocracy or 
tyranny. Indeed, the chief reason for advocating one 
form of the state rather than another is this result in 
molding the character of the citizen. Children are born 
into the state, and are indirectly influenced by it from the 
beginning, but only with the growth into young manhood 
and womanhood is its influence directly brought to bear 
upon them, producing a conscious reaction. It is true, 
the lost children fall immediately into the hands of the 
state, but even they have no consciousness of the meaning 
of organized society; while for all normal children, certain 
other institutions mediate between the child and the state 
Two of these, the home and the school, are of supreme 
importance, acting upon the child as they do together 
throughout the period ending in manhood. I wish to 
reserve the influence on children of individuals in home 
and school for consideration in subsequent chapters, and 
to study first the effect on moral development of the home 
and the school considered as organic institutions, with 
the aim of discovering the principles that should regulate 
their organization and government. 

First let us recognize that the moral effect of an institu- 
tion is not determined by its material size, but by the prin- 
ciples on which it is based; therefore, if we find the prin- 
ciples in these lesser^ institutions, the home and the school, 

' In calling the home and the school "lesser institutions" I do not 
mean that they are less important than the state, but that they are 
smaller units contained within it. 



PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN HOME AND SCHOOL 131 

to be the samejas in the state, the moral influence on those 
:yoverned by the institution may be equally important, 
et us compare the principles in the state and in these 
Listitutions that most powerfully affect childhood. (1) 
The state is an organization existing for certain definite 
purposes. Without going into a discussion of the philos- 
ophy of the state, we may say that one recognized aim of all 
organized society tending toward democracy, is to guar- 
antee each individual the greatest possible freedom in 
seeking his own life and happiness, so long as that free- 
dom does not conflict with the same end for all others. 

(2) The just laws of the state are those that are necessary 
to its ends. For instance, from the aim just defined flow 
the rational laws with reference to property. In so far as 
these laws are just they are necessary to protect the free- 
dom and activity of each individual, in harmony with the 
same freedom and activity on the part of all others. 

(3) Free citizenship in the state means voluntary a'nd 
intelligent obedience to those laws which are necessary to 
the ends of the state, with a protest by every reasonable 
means against laws which are not necessitated by the pur- 
poses for which the state exists. 

Do not these three principles apply fully to the home 
and the school ? Each is an organization existing for cer- 
tain reasonable purposes. In each the just laws are those 
necessary to the fulfillment of the ends for which the organ- 
ization exists. May we add that free citizenship in home 
and school is voluntary and intelligent obedience to the 
laws necessary to the purposes of the institution ? It may 
be said that children cannot understand the principles in 
the organization of these institutions. It is true, as we 
shall see, that there is growth into the full understanding 



132 MORAL EDUCATION 

of them; but can we not say that the ordinary American 
child of six is as able to understand all the principles in 
home and school organization as is the average voting 
citizen the purposes and laws of the government his free 
exercise of citizenship helps to fashion ? 

It is not necessary to go into difficult philosophic dis- 
cussion in order to see the end and laws of the home and 
the school. For instance, each member of the family is 
there to grow and be happy and to help all the other mem- 
bers to grow and be happy. To attain these ends we must 
all obey the following simple conditions: (1) Each must 
be clean and temperate. It is impossible to live habitualjy 
with those who are physically or morally unclean; and 
temperance is simply the positive side of cleanliness, mean- 
ing just proportion in our activities and in our relations 
to the things that serve us. (2) We must be cheerful and 
courageous. Sullenness is a deadly blight upon both hap- 
piness and helpfulness; and a certain glad willingness to 
strive and endure is needed for the two aims of the home 
life. (3) Each must show reasonable truth and justice. 
No group of people can carry on a common life with- 
out depending upon mutual trust and fairness. (4) 
Justice is not enough: beyond giving each his due, 
there must be loving helpfulness shown by each member 
of the family toward all the rest. (5) Finally, if the ends 
of the home life are to be attained, each individual must 
obey that most fundamental law of all joyous and useful 
living, earnest work. 

These principles are so simple as to be within the 
comprehension of quite young children, if not intellectually 
at least practically, yet they are the great laws of human 
living. Fortunately, the basis of the moral life is not some 



PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN HOME AND SCHOOL 133 

rare, exotic element possible only to a few, but is made 
of just these simple, universal virtues, if difficult of com- 
plete attainment, nevertheless open to the striving of ail. 

As the home is the more generic institution, the state- 
ment of its end and laws is inclusive for the school as well. 
Children are in the school, as in the home,4G grow and be 
happy and help others to grow and be happy; and the 
same simple conditions lead to the attainment of the aim. 
It is necessary that the children should be clean, just, 
loving in school as at home. Yet the school has its own 
specific function in relation to the general aim, and par- 
ticular laws flowing from that function. Here as well we 
need not go into difficult pedagogical discussion. With- 
out considering the relative value of the different formulas 
proposed to define the end of the school, we may say that 
children go to school to learn and help their neighbors 
learn. To attain this aim the children must come to 
school (1) promptly and (2) regularly; they must be (3) 
reasonably quiet and orderly; they must give (4) careful 
attention, and (5) work earnestly at the school tasks. -^ 

These conditions upon which the aim of the school di- 
rectly depends are as simple as the more generic laws of 
the home, yet how important they are. Promptness is the 
least of them; but in any community, for every public 
meeting during one year to begin on time would mean a 
great moral revolution. Suppose all the people in a cer- 
tain town were to become prompt and regular in business 

' These principles are so obvious that they have been frequently 
stated in slightly different form. Compare Dr. Harris on The 
llelatlon of School Discipline to Moral Education, pp. 58-72, in the 
Third Year Book of the National Herbart Society. Compare also 
the report on Moral Education in Schools by the Committee of 
the National Council of Edijcst'on, W. A. Mowry, chairman. 



134 MORAL EDUCATION 

and social life, reasonably quiet and orderly, and earnestly 
attentive to their work : would not the price of land double 
in the neighborhood and people move near to be as close 
as possible to the kingdom of heaven ? Let me repeat : 
life is not made of rare, out-of-the-way elements; and as 
fresh air, sunshine and simple food give the life of the body, 
so the finest character is molded of the simplest virtues. 

If therefore even quite young children can be brought to 
understand the aims and necessary laws of the home and 
the school, does not every argument for democracy in the 
state apply with multiplied force to the form of government 
in these lesser institutions ? What is the true justification 
of democracy in the state ? Surely not immediate results 
in good government. Democracy is, for a large part of its 
history at least, one of the most wasteful forms of govern- 
ment. It cultivates demagoguery and corruption, puts 
inefficient leaders into office, is wasteful of human energy 
and wealth. Yet in spite of that we believe in democ- 
racy. Why? Because we believe that only under free 
institutions is it possible to build up the most earnest, 
free and intelligent type of manhood and womanhood. 
In other words, the one justification of democracy is the 
education of its citizens; and we submit to the temporary 
waste and evil for the sake of that education. If then 
we dare to trust democracy in the state, is it not our duty 
to apply its principles to the government of children in 
the home and the school, where the whole aim is educa- 
tion? 

In the state each form of government has its unique 
result in the character of its subjects. An arbitrary 
tyranny, for instance, tends to make two types of citizens, 
slaves and nihilists. I do not mean that all subjects of a 



PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN HOME AND SCHOOL 135 

tyranny become one or the other, for powerful forces 
aside from the government check and counteract its effect; 
but in so far as the state does mold its citizens, a tyrannical 
government tends to build the two types of character men- 
tioned. The weak people, those who like to respond to 
whatever authority happens to be present, become blindly 
submissive, more and more, to the arbitrary tyranny. 
The strong people, on the other hand, those who tend to 
question authority and who demand a reason for their 
obedience, become more and more blindly reactionary 
against the arbitrary rule that is over them. Now neither 
slaves nor nihilists are free citizens, so that the influence of a 
blind tyranny in the state is morally destructive both ways. 
The same effect follows from a similar type of govern- 
ment in the home and the school, only there the result is 
far greater, because less counteracted by other forces. 
An autocratic rule tends to mold the children into the same 
two undesirable types of character. The weak children 
become wholly submissive to the will of the teacher or 
parent, responding to it without reason, merely because 
it happens to be present. Surely such children are not 
being prepared for helpful living in our world. Rather 
they become the most dangerous element in the com- 
munity, — well-meaning, but so entirely submissive to what- 
ever powerful influence plays upon them that they are 
easily molded clay in the hands of the demagogue.^ 

^ "The child that seems good outwardly often is not good inwardly, 
i.e., does not desire the good spontaneously, or from love, respect, 
and appreciation; similarly, the outwardly rough, stubborn, self- 
willed child that seems outwardly not good, frequently is filled with 
the liveliest, most eager, strongest desire for spontaneous goodness in 
his actions; and the apparently inattentive boy frequently follows 
a certain fixed line of thought that withholds his attention from all 
external things." — Froebel, The Education of Man, translated by 
Hailmann, pp, 6-7, 



136 MORAL EDUCATION 

On the other hand, the strong children, who resent any 
blind obedience, who have in them the making of the most 
effective men and women, react vigorously against an 
autocratic control. They may be quite submissive, appa- 
rently, while the adult's authority is immediately over 
them, but let the parent go away for a day, or the teacher 
leave the room, and like a rubber ball they rebound, and 
pride themselves upon any successfully disobedient act. 
Neither are these children fitted to live in the world we 
know, for their blind reaction against all control harms 
both society and themselves, until they are taught, through 
suffering, the necessity and meaning of rational obedience. 

It is this second group who are wrongly called 'bad' 
children. They are no more bad than the weakly sub- 
missive are good. A really bad child is the hardened 
criminal, so dwarfed and distorted by evil heredity, en- 
vironment and experience that he has come to hate the 
good and love the evil, so that our moral appeals seem lost 
upon him. Such children do appear, but they are few 
indeed in number; while the children usually called bad 
are simply strong individuals who have been misdirected, 
and have come to feel that any successful opposition to 
authority or escape from it is action of real manliness. 
Must we not add that if we have made the problem one 
of the struggle of our will and intellect with the child's, 
and he conquers, this is so far an evidence in him of 
strength and therefore meritorious ? The pity of it is that 
we have called forth the strength along a wholly wrong line, 
which abrogates moral relationships, confuses moral dis- 
tinctions and ends in disaster. 

What these misdirected children need is not suppression, 
a powerful assertion of our authority that reduces their wills 



PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN HOME AND SCHOOL 137 

to submission, but to be brought into line with reasonable 
ends. Our whole effort should be to win the child's 
cooperation instead of his enmity. His intelligence needs, 
not repression, but to be led to see the reasons for obedience. 
His will should be, not broken, but enlightened. 

With the evil effects of tyranny let us contrast the prac- 
tical working of democracy in home and school govern- 
ment. The object of democracy is exactly the opposite 
of tyranny. The arbitrary authority aims to produce un- 
questioning obedience; the aim of democracy is to develop 
free and intelligent response to the best, on the part of each 
individual. Thus in any institution the object of democ- 
racy is moral, never merely economic. Let me illustrate 
with a particular question of school government: every 
teacher has trouble with tardiness; how should he deal 
with the problem ? It is easily possible for a forceful 
teacher so to dominate the school as to frighten the chil- 
dren into conformity with his will and thus eliminate most 
of the tardiness. But what is the result ? Well, the chil- 
dren get to school on time, and that is of economic value. 
Moreover there may be some moral worth in the habit of 
promptness even when it is irrational and inspired by fear.^ 
We shall see in the next chapter how little such habits are 
worth; and beyond this there is no moral value in such 
enforced conformity. Suppose, on the other hand, the 

^ "Obedience which is the result of fear, whether of natural 
penalties or arbitrary punishments inflicted by parents or others in 
authority, produces a servile habit of mind and is consistent with 
inward rebellion against the law which must be outwardly submitted 
to. But obedience which springs from trust and reverence, from 
belief in the child that the parent or his representative is wiser and 
better than himself, and v^^hich is, therefore, a willing submission, is 
the root of true morality ; the recognition of a higher law which we 
ought to obey." — Emily A. E. Shihreff, Moral Training, p. 14. 



138 MORAL EDUCATION 

children are taken into the teacher's confidence and 
brought to see the need of getting to school on time if they 
are to learn and help their neighbors learn: every act of 
obedience that is given voluntarily because the end is 
recognized and willed is a step forward in the development 
of independent moral character. Here is a child who must 
help his mother wash and wipe the dishes before he can 
come to school. If he does his work as quickly as possible 
and runs partway to school, because he sees it is necessary 
to the good work of the school and because he desires to 
cooperate in seeking the end that is right, his action is 
worth morally what no blind habit can ever mean. He is 
learning, not to respond to the accident of authority, but 
to take the moral initiative and choose and afiirm freely 
what is best for him and for all. 

Consider the problem of whispering, with which all 
teachers struggle. It is obviously possible for a teacher 
'with a strong personality' to dominate a school-room 
and suppress whispering. There are rooms presided 
over by 'good disciplinarians' where the children are 
frightened into such an abject obedience that they actually 
do not breathe and move around enough for their physical 
health. Here again we have an economic result — good 
order — and a slight moral good, often accompanied with dis- 
tinct moral and physical harm. 

Why should not the child whisper? He needs a knife 
to sharpen his lead pencil, or he has failed to hear the 
announcement of the lesson. There is a good reason why 
he should not: he should have paid attention when the 
lesson was given; and if the children generally whisper 
when they think it necessary, the school quickly becomes 
so disorderly that good work cannot be done. Let the 



PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN HOME AND SCHOOL 139 

children see and state this principle for themselves; win as 
much support as possible to the end in view; and then if 
the children are reasonably quiet, refraining sometimes 
from whispering when they would like to, they are growing 
in self-control and free obedience to reasonable law, and 
so the great end of moral education is being attained. 

It is wonderful how the teacher's hands are upheld by 
such a spirit in the school when it comes to dealing with 
the refractory children who cannot be won to adhesion to 
the aim and free conformity to the conditions that lead to it. 
Public opinion is as powerful among children as among 
adults; and the children themselves will bring the largest 
possible influence to bear upon the reactionary individual 
when democracy is the principle of the government. 

In general we may say that it is always better to secure 
adhesion to a principle without formulating it into a rule, 
and the rule should be given only where we have failed 
to solve the problem on the higher plane. ^ The children 

' " I have seen Parents so heap Rules on their Children, that it was 
impossible for the poor little Ones to remember a tenth Part of 
them, much less to observe them. However, they were either by 
Words or Blows corrected for the Breach of those multiply' d and 
often very impertinent Precepts. Whence it naturally follow' d that 
the Children minded not what was said to them, when it was evident 
to them that no Attention they were capable of was sufficient to pre- 
serve them from Transgression, and the Rebukes which follow' d it. 

Let therefore your Rules to your Son be as few as possible, and 
rather fewer than more than seem absolutely necessary. For if you 
burden him with many Rules, one of these two Things must neces- 
sarily follow; that either he must be very often punish' d, which will 
be of iU Consequence, by making Punishment too frequent and 
familiar; or else you must let the Transgressions of some of your 
Rules go unpunish'd, whereby they will of course grow contemptible, 
and your Authority become cheap to him. Make but few Laws, but 
see they be well observ'd when once made. Few Years require but 
few Laws, and as his Age increases, when one Rule is by Practice 
well establish'd, you may add another." — Locke, Some Thoughts Con- 
cerning Education, edited by Quick, pp. 38-39. 



140 MORAL EDUCATION 

themselves can understand this. As long as the room is 
reasonably orderly there need be no rule about whispering. 
Persistent disorder may necessitate the formulation of a 
specific rule, and if so, it is well that the children should 
cooperate in its formulation. 

The problem has been worked out in phases of modern 
university discipline. In the old-time college it was 
sought to bring the student under the control of rigid 
authority. Rules affecting all the details of his life were 
formulated and even posted on the wall of his room, thus 
directly challenging his disobedience. Just in so far as 
these rules seemed to the student an arbitrary expression 
of the power of his superiors, he naturally tried to get 
around them. Hence the tradition of college pranks 
which fills the old-time stories of school life. Today, uni- 
versity students are expected to be men and women with a 
reasonable knowledge of what is required in a moral 
society. Opportunities for disobedience are not suggested 
to them by the formulation of detailed restrictions. If 
they break the known laws of society, the ordinary system 
of justice must take charge of them as of other criminals, 
for the rest they are thrown largely upon their own per- 
sonal honor and reason. The result is, it becomes very 
melancholy to steal pies from the dormitory or paint 
the professor's horse. No one pays any attention to you 
or makes a hero of you as long as the prank is childish, 
and when it becomes criminal you find yourself in the 
disgrace that attaches to all harmful social offenses. 
Under this regime even 'class rushes' seem more and more 
foolish to intelligent students, and tend to disappear, in 
spite of the century-long tradition that supports them. 

Thus the question of the organization and government of 



PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN HOME AND SCHOOL Ul 

these lesser institutions, the home and the school, is always 
a moral problem, never merely an economic one. It is 
amazing how this fact is ignored in current education. 
The parent's government is often dictated by the interest 
of his own ease and comfort, the teacher's by the desire 
to get the work of the school done, or worse, to make a 
good showing when the principal or visitor enters, and so 
get the questionable reputation of being a 'good disciplin- 
arian.'^ Yet, like all other government, that of the home 
and the school will stamp itself indelibly on the character 
of the children and mold them in accordance with its prin- 
ciples; and far more in the home and the school than in 
the state, not only because children are so plastic, but 
because these institutions fill so much larger a place in 
the life of the child than the state does in that of the adult 
citizen. Unless we can recall vividly our own early life, 
it is difficult to realize how completely the child is ab- 
sorbed in the little world of these lesser institutions. 
Therefore the reason for insisting on democracy as the 
principle of government in home and school is in no degree 
its effect in ease, comfort or economy, but the moral good 
of the children. 



* "It is, therefore, ho paradox to say, that order and silence and 
regularity may be maintained, in a school, by a course of discipline, 
which, while it seems to make a good school, shall, in reality, be a 
skillfully arranged process for making bad men." — Horace Mann, 
On School Punishments, in Life and Works of Horace Mann, vol. 
II, p. 362. 



XIV 



THE PROGRESSIVE APPLICATION OF DEMOC- 
RACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL 
GOVERNMENT 

We have seen that the aim of all government in home 
and school is the moral development of the children, and 
that therefore it is our duty to base our control of children 
as far as possible on the principles of democracy, to foster 
the free, self-directing type of character. This does 
not mean, however, that complete democracy should be 
introduced at one point. That has not been possible in 
the history of the race and cannot be attempted without 
danger in the life of the individual. Historically we can 
trace the development of organized society from simple 
patriarchal rule, through all forms of monarchy, oligarchy 
and aristocracy, with the perversions represented by 
tyranny and mob-rule, toward a constitutional monarchy 
that in turn gives way to some form of democracy. The 
process has been a long and slow one, and even today 
there are but few races capable of living within the forms 
of political democracy with reasonable safety; and among 
the most advanced of these how imperfectly the principles 
of democracy are carried out in practice. Where groups 
of the population are quite unfit for self-government, even 
though the political forms be democratic they break down 
in reality, and another type of government supervenes, — 



DEMOCRACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 143 

as monarchy, in the case of the 'boss' governing indus- 
trially as well as politically a mass of ignorant henchmen, 
or oligarchy, as in certain southern portions of the United 
States, where the white population, though distinctly a 
minority, has succeeded in concentrating all political 
power in its hands. The true principle of democracy in 
the state is, not to establish offhand a certain political 
system we theoretically hold to be highest, but just so 
far as is consistent with public safety and progress to give 
every citizen the largest possible freedom and self-control, 
industrially, socially and politically. We can afford to 
err on the side of freedom, since responsibility, even when 
partly misused, educates as can nothing else. The real 
difference between democracy and other forms of organiz- 
ing society is that they seek to further the interest and 
power of a class, a group or an individual, while democ- 
racy aims at the best life, freest initiative and largest 
self-direction for all. 

As democracy is a process and not a statical fact in the 
state, so should it be in the home and the school. Other 
forms of government in these institutions aim at the interest, 
ease or authority of parents and teachers, democracy aims 
at the best life, freest initiative and largest self-direction for 
each child. To attempt the introduction of a certain type 
of democracy at a single stroke in home or school is as 
dangerous as the similar experiment in the state. The 
very young child is not beyond the patriarchal stage, and 
from that point to complete personal freedom on the basis 
of wisdom and self-control, the form of government must 
vary in principle for the individual as historically for the 
race. 

If this is recognized it will be seen at once that those 



144 MORAL EDUCATION 

experiments which seek to reorganize the school-room in 
imitation of a city or state government do not form the 
main application of democracy to the school. Some 
admirable work has been done in this direction through the 
"School City" planned and carried out by Wilson L. 
Gill.^ In certain schools the discipline has been placed in 
the hands of the pupils, they have elected officers, pun- 
ished offenders, and carried out the main legal, judicial 
and legislative functions of the state. It is needless to 
point out how very valuable is the direct instruction in the 
functions and duties of citizenship that results from thus 
practising them. For the older pupils, in advanced gram- 
mar and high school grades, this type of organization may 
justify itself for a time on the ground of the instruction in 
citizenship alone. Moreover, all the children undoubtedly 
receive some moral training from such a system. Certain 
of the more difficult cases can be dealt with successfully 
on this plan. I need only point to the splendid record of 
the George Junior Republic to show how, under an in- 
spired man, such a plan can be carried out with wonderful 
results for the children who are in a measure social out- 
casts.^ 

* See an article on Self Government in Schools in The Literary 
Digest of August 8, 1903, reviewing the work done under Mr. Gill's 
leadership. 

^ Mr. F. W. Richardson, of Auburn, N. Y., one of the trustees 
of the George Junior Republic, has furnished me the following data: 
Of the one hundred and sixty-four 'citizens' who had gone out from 
the Republic up to November 1902, only fourteen are regarded as 
unsuccessful. The other one hundred and fifty have entered society 
as good citizens and give promise of remaining so. Compare these 
figures with the results of a good high school, dealing with the best 
material of human nature, and the wonderful success of the Republic 
is evident. The Annual Reports and other pamphlets published by 
the George Junior Republic (Freeville, N. Y.) give full information 
concerning this most instructive educational experiment. 



DEMOCRACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 145 

It is to be questioned, however, whether such a method 
of organization is to be advocated as the wisest plan of 
discipline generally with reference to the direct results in 
moral culture. The scheme stands somewhat aside from 
the immediate problem of moral education and demands 
a great deal of time in proportion to the results attained 
in character. Any one who has dealt with young children 
knows how slight and how slow in developing is their con- 
ception of law; and it may be questioned whether, for the 
younger children, the measure of guidance and instruction 
from above they would require in order to carry out the 
scheme would not mean its practical emasculation.^ 

Valuable as the experiment of the school republic has 
proved itself to be in application to special situations, the 
general problem of government in home and school is to 
introduce democracy progressively, as fast as the children 
can respond to it. In the beginning it is the personal will 
of the adult that must rule: first blind obedience, then 
rational and free obedience as fast as possible. It is as 
much an error not to demand the unreasoning response to 
authority before reason is possible, as to repress the rational 
attitude when it awakens. Very young children obey us, 
if at all, largely from emotional causes. They love, 
respect or (sadly enough) fear us, and therefore respond, 
without seeing its reason, to the personal will that is over 
them. Respond they should, nevertheless; for to leave 
little children "quite uncontrolled, as so many American 
parents do, is not only to multiply theidifficulty in the prob- 
lem of moral education, but to render the child himself 

^ See the two suggestive studies on Children's Attitude Toward 
Law by Estelle M. Darrah, in Studies in Education, edited by 
Earl Barnes, vol, I, pp. 213-216, 254-258. 



146 MORAL EDUCATION 

most unhappy. Little children are never so gladly at 
peace as when they are quietly and firmly held day after 
day to what is best for them ; and never so restless and dis- 
satisfied as when they are left quite to their own devices, 
not knowing what to devise. Thus from the beginning of 
the child's life and during its earliest years the parent 
should exercise a quiet, gentle, patient, but insistent 
authority, demanding only what is reasonable, but demand- 
ing it unvaryingly.^ 

Very early, however, comes the child's questioning of 
authority. At the age of five or six he is already beginning 
to ask why he should obey.^ Sometimes this questioning 
comes with a sudden flood, at other times reason awakens 
very gradually. How shall we treat the child's question 
when it comes? In so far as it is merely impudence, 
obviously it should be suppressed. We do«our children 
no kindness to let them grow up impudent; for the world 
will not tolerate their impudence, and it is a grave 
harm to children to let them develop a fault which will 
bring painful experiences. Much of the questioning, 
however, is not impudence but expresses a real desire 
to know. Is it wise to suppress this? Would not sup- 

'"A child must at first rest in authority; his very preservation 
depends upon it ; and if he is well trained, he comes to feel the satis- 
faction of strong and secure support. A dogma in fields where he 
does not know — and there are few fields which he does know — is as 
restful to his eager, searching mind as his father's strong arms are 
to his body." — Earl Barnes, The Child as a Social Factor, in 
Studies in Education, vol. I, pp. 355-356. 

^ "It will perhaps be wonder'd.thati mention Reasoning ^ath Chil- 
dren ; and yet I cannot but think that the true Way of dealing with 
them. They understand it as early as they do Language; and, if 
I misobserve not, they love to be treated as rational Creatures, sooner 
than is imagin'd. 'Tis a Pride should be cherish'd in them, and, as 
much as can be, made the greatest Instrument to turn them by." — 
Locke, Some Thoughts concerning Education, edited by Quick, p. 60. 



DEMOCRACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 147 

pression mean choking the nascent reason that is so essen- 
tial to wise hving ? The form of education that sought to 
'break the child's will' strove also to check the develop- 
ment of his reason, thus struggling to continue the type of 
obedience that is mere blind response to authority.^ Yet 
surely we need forceful will for the work of life, only it must 
be balanced by clear reason, or it results in obstinacy. 
Similarly, we need an ability to reason clearly and discrim- 
inatingly, but it must be balanced by a vigorous power of 
action, or it loses its connection with life and dissipates in 
mere speculation. Thus we should welcome the serious 
questioning of authority and the grounds of obedience, 
just as every wise teacher welcomes the similar questioning 
in reference to the facts and laws of nature. In either case 
the child's awakening is our educational opportunity. 

Our problem is, therefore, to transform the obedience 
to personal authority into a free and intelligent response to 
law just as rapidly and naturally as possible. What, after 
all, is the ultimate ground for parental authority over little 
children? Is it not that we mediate between the child 
and the universe of law, holding him to conformity with 
the latter for his best good ? If so, the more the mediating 
authority is able to withdraw, as the child comes to a 
conscious recognition of law, the better. 

Thus the two forms of obedience have very different 

^ "Those who grow up merely passive, as obedient children, have 
no character when they are released from supervision. They give 
themselves up to their hidden longings and to circumstances, now 
when no one has any longer power over them, or when any power, 
which can still perhaps be exercised, affects them in but a crooked 
manner, and must either drive them off at a tangent or crush them 
altogether. Unfortunately, every one can relate sad experiences 
enough of this kind." — Herbart, The Science of E'dwcaiion, translated 
by Felkin, p. 219, 



148 MORAL EDUCATION 

moral values. The earlier unreasoning response to au- 
thority, on emotional grounds, is of value chiefly as form- 
ing habits of obedience to what is best. From Aristotle^ 
to Professor James^ the most acute philosophers and wisest 
teachers have insisted upon the great moral value of good 
habits, sometimes going so far as to identify morality with 
them. Therefore we need not take time to show the im- 
portance of this element in the moral life. Regular habits 
of right action established in the little child, before he 
becomes conscious of the grounds and aims of his conduct, 
are of great value. Indeed, if a child grows up to be seven 
or eight years old without forming any such habits of 
obedience to the right, the loss is almost irretrievable. 

' "Virtue or excellence being twofold, partly intellectual and partly 
moral, intellectual virtue is both originated and fostered mainly by 
teaching; it therefore demands experience and time. Moral virtue 
on the other hand is.the outcome of habit, and accordingly its name 
is derived by a slight deflexion from habit." — Aristotle, Nico- 
machean Ethics, translated by J. E. C. Welldon, p. 34. The Mac- 
millan Co., New York, 1892. 

^ "Habit is thusthe enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious 
conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds 
of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from the envious up- 
risings of the poor. It alone prevents the hardest and most repulsive 
walks of life from being deserted by those brought up to tread 
therein. It keeps the fisherman and the deck-hand at sea through 
the winter; it holds the miner in his darkness, and nails the country- 
man to his log-cabin and his lonely farm through all the months of 
snow ; it protects us from invasion by the natives of the desert and 
the frozen zone. It dooms us all to fight out the battle of life upon 
the lines of our nurture or our early choice, and to make the best of a 
pursuit that disagrees, because there is no other for which we are 
fitted, and it is too late to begin again." — William James, The Prin- 
ciples of Psychology, vol. I, p. 121. Compare also the same chapter, 
p. 127: 

"The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no 
worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually 
fashioning our characters in the wrong way. Could the young but 
realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, 
they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state. 
We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone," 



DEMOCRACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL GOVERNMElilT 149 

Let it be noted, however, that we can establish such habits 
lastingly only with some cooperation of the child's will 
and desire. If a child is forced repeatedly to an action he 
resents, it is true a path is established and the action be- 
comes easy to him; but if every time he has merely obeyed 
a superior force, the moment the compulsion is withdrawn 
his opposite desire tends to prevent his traveling the path 
we have made easy for him; and what we supposed was a 
fixed habit may disintegrate in an amazingly short time. 
I do not mean that compulsion is not necessary; it is often 
required, and the child must learn very early that, what- 
ever his desire may be, there are certain things he must do, 
regularly and unquestioningly. Still, to get the value of 
good habits, we must succeed, sooner or later, in winning 
the will of the child to some measure of affirmation of the 
right action. 

On the other hand, psychologists have not seen clearly 
enough how indifferent habits are morally. Almost any 
habit may be utilized for bad ends as well as good. Take, 
for instance, the habit of cleanliness and order. How 
excellent it is as a basis of sane living. We must learn 
to put things in their places automatically and be clean 
without thinking about it. Yet even this admirable habit 
may be brought into the service of all the powers of dark- 
ness, as when a mother allows her habit of order to stand 
in the way of the reasonable activity of her children, or 
when her habit of cleanliness results in dressing them up 
like artificial puppets and preventing healthy outdoor 
play. So the habit of order in any person living much 
alone is apt to become a still more serious handicap to 
good living, resulting in real slavery to things. 

Again, it is a good habit to eat one's meals regularly and 



150 * MORAL EDUCATION 

have a sufficient amount and variety of well-cooked food. 
Yet everyone can recall individuals who are so tied to 
their three good meals a day that they make themselves 
and everyone else miserable the moment their habits are 
broken into by circumstances. Let me choose as a further 
illustration a habit still more definitely moral in import — 
that of frank and regular truth-telling. Surely it is one of 
the most valuable habits we can foster; yet, unsupervised 
by reason and good taste, it may give unnecessary hurts 
and mar one's whole relation to other people. 

Thus habits are distinctly not morality, though it is 
easy to see how the superstition arose that they were 
so. They are simply wonderful instruments, to be 
utilized and supervised by conscious reason. Up to a 
certain point they economize nervous energy and are thus 
a means of freedom, beyond that point they directly en- 
slave us. Professor James says, in one of the most bril- 
liant passages of his widely quoted chapter on Habit, — a 
passage he himself values so highly that he repeats it in his 
Talks to Teachers: 

"The more of the details of our daily life we can hand 
over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our 
higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper 
work. There is no more miserable human being than one 
in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, and for whom 
the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the 
time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning 
of every bit of work are subjects of express volitional 
deliberation." ^ 

All would give most cordial assent to the general prin- 

V., \__r-v 

1 The principles of Psychology, vol. I, p. 122, also in Talks to 
Teachers, p. 67. 



DEMOCRACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 151 

ciple Professor James expresses. Yet the very illustra- 
tions he uses suggest the limitation of that principle. It is 
exactly the 'cup' and 'cigar' that need constant super- 
vision by conscious reason. The man whose habit of 
smoking has become so automatic that he smokes a good 
part of the day without knowing it, loses the pleasure of 
smoking, just as he loses the taste for excellent tobacco. 
While the man who smokes occasionally, with a conscious 
sense of new experience each time, keeps the habit in 
control, and at the same time gets far more pleasure out of 
it. It is just those unnecessary luxuries that are on the 
margin of healthy living that need most of all to be kept 
under the control of conscious reason. To allow the use 
of them to become blind habit is to be enslaved by them. 

Thus it is as necessary that one should be able to break 
the routine of habit for adequate cause, as it is that one 
should relegate much of life to the "custody of automat- 
ism." There are really two different elements in our 
adaptation to the conditions and laws of life. Through 
automatic habit we become adapted to the more permanent 
and statical elements of environment, through conscious 
reason and control we are adapted to the new and dynamic 
factors. The first principle means economy, the second 
progress, and thus the latter is distinctly higher in import. 
Our life may depend much more on our ability to resume 
conscious control of an action and break the continuity of 
habit, than upon the strength of the latter. For instance, 
it is widely noted how beneficent is the provision that walk- 
ing becomes automatic, one foot after the other being lifted 
and put down with no consciousness on our part. Sud- 
denly one finds one's right foot lifted over an open cellar 
door: safety and even life itself may depend upon the vigor 



152 MORAL EDUCATION 

and quickness with which one can regain control of the 
function and put the foot down otherwise than the autom- 
atism of habit would demand. 

Consider a young man who grows up in a morally 
healthy American community where a certain type of 
conduct toward women prevails. He naturally forms the 
habit of that type of conduct. Suppose him to be sud- 
denly transported as an art student to a continental Euro- 
pean city. He finds himself in an environment where a 
totally different attitude toward women prevails. His 
conduct will depend somewhat, but not mainly, on the 
basis of habit he has formed. As that habit was built 
up by a past environment, it will tend gradually to be re- 
placed by another echoing the new environment. The 
young man's moral welfare will depend far less on habit, 
than upon his own independent ideal of life and the strength 
of his conscious self-control in obedience to it. 

Habits are therefore distinctly not morality, but the tools 
of morality, or the material which can be utilized for moral 
ends. To live well we need to form good habits, but it is 
even more necessary that these should be constantly con- 
trolled and frequently revised by conscious feason. The 
habits may be as mechanical as possible if they are kept in 
their place, but to trust to the mechanism of habit alone is 
to invite moral atrophy or disaster. 

Therefore, as it is necessary to insist upon obedience to 
personal authority from the beginning of the child's life, 
thus establishing a basis of moral habits, brain-paths to 
right action, so it is necessary to transfigure that obedience 
into free and intelligent response to law as early and as 
rapidly as possible, thus bringing the blind mechanism of 
habit under the control and guidance of free and conscious 



DEMOCRACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 153 

reason. It is wonderful how early this can be done 
in some measure, thus making possible a considerable 
degree of democracy in government. The wise parent 
will have done something, even before the child reaches 
school age, to make him aware of the reasons for 
obedience, and from the beginning of the school period the 
growth into independent action can be very rapid. Still, 
until the period of young manhood or womanhood is 
reached, absolute deniocracy can rarely be safely intro- 
duced. The parent or teacher will resemble a constitu- 
tional monarch rather than a democratic president, hold- 
ing always a large part of the judicial as well as the 
executive authority, and cooperating in all legislation, 
whether definitely formulated or not; but holding this 
unique attitude: anxious to let his authority slip from his 
hands as rapidly as is consistent with the safety of those 
over whom it is exercised, and as fast as they can intelli- 
gently take it up for themselves. 

Thus it is necessary for parents and teachers to plan 
definite opportunities for conferring with the children 
about the aim and principles of their common task of 
government. With a little care this is not difficult to 
accomplish in the home. In school, the teacher should 
have at regular periods talks with the pupils (not at them) 
about the questions of school organization and discipline. 
The children should be encouraged to see and express for 
themselves the simple aims and laws of the school, that a 
public opinion in support of the latter may be built up. 
It is wonderful how much these talks, wisely managed, can 
do to transform blind obedience into the free and intelli- 
gent response to law that is the end of our government. 

There is one further difficulty we must overcome in thus 



154 MORAL EDUCATION 

attempting to introduce democracy progressively in home 
and school government: it is often hard for us to grant the 
increasing freedom so necessary to the child's moral growth. 
This is apt to be difficult for us just in proportion to our 
own moral strength and earnestness. The more deeply 
we are interested in the child's welfare and the more vigor- 
ously we have tried to help him, the more we realize the 
superiority of our own judgment over his, and so regret to 
see him make mistakes in the clumsy exercise of his free- 
dom. So we tend to draw the reins tighter until we are in 
danger of becoming a veritable martinet, holding the child 
back with a multitude of petty restrictions. When this 
happens, he not only fails of the desired growth into free 
and intelligent action, but is in danger of violently reacting 
against all authority.^ There is a current proverb that 
"ministers' children turn out badly." Of course it is not 
true; but the greater moral interest and care that ministers 
are apt as a class to give their children, makes it more 
difficult for the parent to let go increasingly of the reins and 
grant the measure of freedom necessary to the child's 
safety as well as growth. 

In general it may be said that the greater the moral force 
in parent or teacher, the greater is the need for reserve in its 
assertion.^ As a father who is powerfully intellectual 

' " I augur better of a child, a youth who is wandering astray on a 
path of his own, than of many who are walking aright upon paths 
which are not theirs. If the former, either by themselves, or by the 
guidance of others, ever find the right path, that is to say, the path 
which suits their nature, they will never leave it ; while the latter are 
in danger every moment of shaking off a foreign yoke, and abandon- 
ing themselvesto unrestricted license." — Goethe, Wilhebn Meister's 
Apprenticeship and Travels, translated by Carlyle, vol. II, p. 98. 

* "Parents must not bear the children's burdens for them so long 
and so completely, that the children acquire no strength wherewith 



DEMOCRACY IN HOME AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 155 

may so overburden his children as to prevent their fullest 
intellectual unfolding, so a father or teacher who is un- 
usually strong morally may exercise a similarly overshad- 
owing influence in that aspect of the child's growth, and 
thus check or crush the child's moral originality or 
initiative. 

We must then learn that hardest form of self-sacrifice, 
the denial of our own instinctive desire to help the child, 
and let him strive to help himself, even though his efforts 
are clumsy and imperfect. Only through the increasing 
use of freedom can he be prepared for freedom. If our 
government of him furthers the normal process of convert- 
ing his blind obedience into free and intelligent response 
to law, he is being fitted for the functions of good citizen- 
ship under free institutions, as well as for life in this human 
world, where each is free to choose the best and live or the 
worst and die. We may reasonably hope that such gov- 
ernment will lead our children to recognize the great ends 
of human life and the laws which lead to them. Without 
passing through any period of harmful capricious reaction, 
they should be able to pass naturally from the little world 
of the home and the school into the larger opportunities 
and duties of human life, recognizing that the same laws to 
which they have learned intelligently and freely to respond 
are the conditions of happiness and helpfulness in the great 
world. 



to bear their own. A mistake that a boy makes himself, and corrects 
himself, is often better than a dozen right answers furnished for him 
ready-made by an over-solicitous father or mother." — -William 
DeWitt Hyde, Practical Idealism, p. 173. 



XV 



THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF CORRECT- 
IVE DISCIPLINE 

In carrying into practice the principles of government 
I have outHned, each child presents a fresh problem; and 
I must now consider the difficult question of the use of 
punishments and rewards in rendering our control of 
children effective for moral culture. No matter how kind 
and loving government may be, until the plane of free 
response to law is reached, its authority must be enforced 
by the use of some kind of corrective discipline. No child 
acts constantlj^ in harmony with the best; and it is part 
of our duty to utilize forces which will help the child over 
his mistakes and bring him into willing response to the 
lav/ it is necessary to his welfare he should obey. 

This use of corrective discipline is obviously only a 
fraction of the problem of control. The main exercise of 
our authority should be in establishing conditions of moral 
health in the ways already indicated: regulating the work 
and play of children, and utilizing the influences of good 
environment in art, nature and humanity. As physically 
light, air, food and exercise are far more important than 
medicine, and if rightly used will relegate the latter to a 
place of relative insignificance, so in the moral world, 
nourishing and guiding the positive growth in love and 
reason, establishing good habits by the gymnastic of con- 



THE FUNCTION OF COERECTIVE DISCIPLINE 157 

stant exercise, are our main problem in governing children, 
and in so far as we succeed with it we obviate the need of 
punishment. 

Therefore any theory of education is wrong which em- 
phasizes punishment as the chief means of moral culture. 
The most conspicuous recent example of such a theory 
is found, rather unexpectedly, not among the theologians, 
but among the scientists, in Spencer's admirable little 
treatise.^ With his usual incisiveness Spencer strikes at 
the heart of the subject from the side upon which he 
attacks it, affirming that the chief moral function of the 
parent is to see that the child experiences, in a measure 
not dangerous to life or health, the natural consequences 
of his actions.^ This obviously leaves us to enforce the 
consequences of good as well as bad actions; but Spencer's 
whole emphasis is placed on bringing home to the child 
the result of his misdeeds that he may learn a prudential 
respect for the law he has violated. Such prudence is a 
valuable element of moral life, but our study so far has 
shown how much more is demanded in any adequate 
education for good living. Our main task is to awaken 
the positive moral life. The method of moral education 
must be as positive as is its aim. Evil is overcome less by 
struggling against it than by affirming the good of which 
it is the negation or distortion. We conquer evil habits 
by building good ones; we overcome evil desires by falling 

' Herbert Spencer, Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical, 
part III, Moral Education. 

^ " Is it not manifest that as 'ministers and interpreters of Nature' 
it is the function of parents to see that their children habitually 
experience the true consequences of their conduct — the natural reac- 
tions: neither warding them off, nor intensifying them, nor putting 
artificial consequences in place of them? No unprejudiced reader 
wUl hesitate in his assent," — Spencer, Education, p. 178. 



158 MORAL EDUCATION 

in love with something above ourselves. The anchorite 
in the desert is tortured by sensual dreams; the man living 
sanely in the world, absorbed in the pursuit of some worthy 
objective end, can hardly understand the other's tempta- 
tion. 

The Greeks, who believed so thoroughly in the positive 
view of life, have given us the clue to the right method of 
moral culture in the old story of the Sirens. Both Ulysses 
and Orpheus passed the Sirens, escaped falling victims to 
the allurements of evil, but how differently. When 
Ulysses realized that he was near the Sirens he had the 
ears of his sailors stopped, and caused himself to be bound 
to the mast. When he came within hearing of the Siren 
music he was charmed by it and struggled to free himself, 
calling loudly to the sailors to release him that he might 
go to the sweet singers. The sailors, not hearing, were 
untempted, and they rowed him by. They rowed him 
by! That is all one can say. It was small credit to the 
moral character of Ulysses, though much to his prudential 
foresight. On the other hand, when Orpheus came within 
hearing of the Sirens, he played so sweetly upon the instru- 
ment he had invented and sang so wondrously that he 
was not tempted to leave the ship, nor were his com- 
rades. It is symbolic of the whole problem of moral 
living: to waken from the instrument of one's own life such 
music that one is untempted by the Siren song of evil. 

Still, if corrective discipline is but a fraction of the 
problem of government, it is an indispensable part; and as 
with all other aspects of our control of children its whole 
aim is the moral welfare of the child. This fact is not well 
understood by many parents and some teachers at the 
present time. The old notions of punishment still prevail 



THE FUNCTION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 159 

and determine our treatment of children in critical mo- 
ments of their moral growth. 

The oldest notion of punishment, historically, was nar- 
rowly retributive and born of the instinct of revenge.^ It 
held that the offender should be given the same kind and 
amount of pain he had inflicted on others: "an eye for an 
eye and a tooth for a tooth." Undoubtedly there is a cer- 
tain natural basis for this principle: deeds do return to the 
doer, and the tendency of the universe is that the evil you 
do you shall suffer. Moreover, we can within strict limits 
utilize this natural tendency for purposes of discipline, 
in some cases bringing home to the consciousness of the 
offender the meaning of what he has done by repeating it 
upon him. Yet such discipline should be given for the 
purpose of reforming the offender; and surely punishment 
should never spring from either the passion or the idea of 
vengeance. Is the spirit of revenge ever today other than 
a hindrance to the right, a clouding of the moral atmos- 
phere? Therefore, is not all punishment for revenge a 
survival of what should be obsolete? Whatever we 
hold with reference to the state, certainly such punishment 
should be obsolete in the discipline of children. 

Following the punishment of revenge there came his- 
torically a period when punishment was used by the state 
to deter the criminal and his fellows from the commission 
of further crimes. Clearly the duty of self-protection 
gives society the right to use such deterrent punishment, 
could it only be used wisely. In fact, much of our present 
penal system rests upon this principle. The tendency 

* See the excellent discussion of different theories of primitive 
justice, in W. W. Willoughby's Social Justice, chapter X, The 
Macmillan Co., New York, 1900. 



160 MORAL EDUCATION 

in all civilized lands, however, is to soften increasingly the 
terrible puishments which were given in the earlier applica- 
tions of the deterrent principle, since severe punishments 
have proved so ineffectual in preventing crime. For 
instance, thieves were never more abundant than when 
hanging was the punishment meted out to their crime 
together with most offenses, and thieves were then cer- 
tainly more murderous. Moreover, even were it possible 
to avoid the terrible abuses into which the state has fallen 
in the application of the deterrent principle, the result 
would still be economic rather than moral. A criminal is 
not made into a good man by being frightened out of his 
crime. Our aim in the discipline of children is not to 
protect ourselves from their misdeeds, but to lead them to 
love and will the best. It is true, there are parents who 
utilize punishment merely to gain their own comfort. 
They usually claim that they have a 'right' to punish 
their children because the children are their own. Such 
parents do not belong in our civilization; they should 
have lived — and died — in the old Roman days when the 
child was legally the father's property. The right to 
punish your child because it is your own? Say rather, 
the duty to give it the treatment that will help it to the best 
human development. 

What, from the point of view of human society, are then 
the moral reasons for punishment? They are two, and 
they can be very simply illustrated. If you had a gan- 
grened finger you would go to the best physician you 
knew and seek to have it cured. If it could not be cured, 
you would have it amputated, in the hope of protecting 
your whole body from the disease. A criminal is a 
gangrened member of the commonwealth: it is always 



THE FUNCTION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 161 

our duty to cure him if we can; if not, to amputate him from 
the social whole to protect it from the infection of his crime. 

Thus, morally considered, just punishment is one of two 
taings: it is moral medicine or moral surgery; and under 
these two heads really falls whatever is just and helpful 
in the way of deterrent punishment. In dealing with a 
society of children the element of moral surgery sinks into 
relative insignificance. There are children so hopelessly 
spoiled that no appeal we can make will reach them, and we 
must resort to their separation from normal children for 
the protection of the latter. At times, expulsion from the 
school, or sending the child to an institution for reform is the 
one solution. Such cases ought never to come in the home 
and they are very rare in the school. Thus the problem of 
corrective discipline, as it presents itself in our government 
of children, is mainly to give each child the moral medicine 
that will correct his faults and help him to moral health. 

Is it possible to go beyond this principle and prescribe 
generally the moral medicine in advance ? Spencer thinks 
so, holding, as we have seen, that the one beneficial form 
of punishment is the natural consequence of the child's 
misdeed. To take the universally cited illustration: as 
the child learns that fire is a dangerous plaything by being 
burned one or more times, so he should experience the 
inexorable and inevitable consequences of all his actions 
that are not in harmony with law, and thus learn to keep 
his conduct within the limits Nature so rigorously estab- 
lishes. Nearly the whole of Spencer's treatise on Moral 
Education is devoted to expanding and illustrating this view. 
Obviously it is but a modern, more scientific development 
of a part of Rousseau's theory; but the authority of Spencer 
and the ripeness of the time have given it wide acceptance. 



162 MORAL EDUCATION 

This theory of Spencer's in reference to moral discipline 
is not unlike the dreams of Hahnemann in medicine. 
It may seem strange to liken the rigorous, anything but 
gentle reactions Spencer would utilize, with the attenuated 
medicines of the German mystic; yet the two theories result 
in similar influences. As the "similia similihus curantur" 
and "in mildness is strength" of Hahnemann profoundly 
modified the older empirical science of medicine, making 
its treatment gentler and its procedure closer to nature, 
so the distinctly allopathic tlieory of Spencer tends to 
eliminate the arbitrary and therefore harmful elements 
of punishment and to give the order and unity of natural 
law to our discipline of children. As Hahnemann wrote 
in opposition to such arbitrary methods in medicine as the 
traditional 'bleeding' to cure all diseases, so Spencer writes 
in conscious protest against the irrational and arbitrary 
character of our habitual treatment of children; and cer- 
tainly the parent who indiscriminately whips or scolds a 
child for every fault, and even for the chance arousing of 
the parent's impatience, needs the chastening reasonable- 
ness of Spencer's view. To give any kind of medicine 
without reference to the state of the patient and the nature 
of the disease is in most cases to do grave harm ; and scold- 
ing contends with whipping for the rank of being the worst 
of all forms of moral medicine to give indiscriminately.^ 

' "As Children should very seldom be corrected by Blows, so I think 
frequent, and especially passionate Chiding of almost as ill Conse- 
quence. It lessens the Authority of the Parents, and the Respect of 
the Child ; for I bid you still remember, they distinguish early be- 
twixt Passion and Reason: And as they cannot but have a Reverence 
for what comes from the latter, so they quickly grow into a Con- 
tempt of the former ; or if it causes a present Terror, yet it soon wears 
off, and natural Inclination will easily learn to slight such Scare- 
crows which make a Noise, but are not animated by Reason." — 
LocKK, So?ne Thoughts concerning Education, edited by Quick, p. 56. 



THE FUNCTION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 163 

It would thus be difficult to exaggerate the value of 
Spencer's clean-cut theory in clarifying and rationalizing 
our discipline of children. Is he not, however, in error in 
advocating a single type of'punishment as the sure cure 
for all moral diseases ? There are many cases where the 
natural working out of a misdeed is the most effective 
medicine, or at least a part of it, for curing the child; 
there are many other cases where it is distinctly not so. 
A tardy child may well be left behind when one goes driv- 
ing; a careless child should be refused opportunities to do 
mischief, though practice in carefulness is even more neces- 
sary to his cure. On the other hand, it is not enough that 
a child who is lazy should suffer the parent's disapproba- 
tion and the failure to attain ends that are worth while; 
he needs to be held quietly but firmly to the regular fulfill- 
ment of assigned tasks, until he has learned to master his 
inertia. Again, the natural consequence of slovenly 
table-manners is exclusion from the society of the family 
at meal-time. Often a child likes nothing better; and, 
surely, to allow him to be as slovenly as he pleases alone is 
not to cure him of the fault, but to deprive him of just the 
example of good manners that may finally impress itself 
upon him. So the gluttonous child needs, not to be allowed 
to gorge himself and then to suffer the natural conse- 
quences, — physical discomfort and ultimately disease, 
with the increasing disgust of those about him, — but to be 
held persistently to rigid self-denial until the habit of con- 
trolling his appetites is formed. The child who is per- 
sonally dirty needs to be held to regular habits of order 
and cleanliness, the over imaginative child to definite and 
exact statement of reality: thus often the corrective dis- 
cipline that will be most effective in curing the child of 



164 MORAL EDUCATION 

the fault is the exact opposite of the working out of the 
latter. 

Dante, with so much vaster insight into the human spirit, 
understood far better than S{)encer the nature and effect 
of corrective discipline. In the Inferno, where the souls 
hate the good, all the punishments are the natural con- 
sequences, as Dante sees them, of the various forms of sin; 
and, with the attitude of hate in the sinners, these punish- 
ments are in no degree reformative. In the Purgatorio, 
where the souls love and seek the good, Dante uses at 
times the punishment that is the natural working out of the 
sin, as in the case of the proud who are loaded down with 
the weight of their pride, the angry who are blinded with 
the smoke of their own passion, or the licentious who are 
burned with the fire of their desires. At other times he 
uses the discipline that is the direct opposite of the sin, 
as in the case of the slothful who are running to overcome 
the inertia of their wasted yesterdays, or the gluttonous 
who are schooled to self-denial and endurance in the pres- 
ence of the objects of their desire. The point is, not only 
that each of the two types of punishment may be curative 
for certain diseases, but that the effect of any kind of moral 
medicine will depend upon the attitude of the patient. 

It is this element of moral attitude and intention the 
relation of which to the effect of punishment Spencer so 
signally ignores. To do wrong, and hate the good, and 
suffer, is to grow worse; to do wrong, and love the good, 
and suffer, may mean to grow into nobler life. Thus the 
same form of suffering will often deepen the hate of one 
and chasten and sweeten another. "All things work to- 
gether for good to them that love God,"^ never to the others. 

* Romans, chapter VIII, v. 28. 



THE FUNCTION OP CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 165 

if a soul in Dante's Hell could be turned around and made 
to face toward God, it would be spiritually in Purgatory, 
and the suffering that only deepens its hate might educate. 
Thus the whole moral result of any action depends partly 
upon the spiritual intention of the doer. If you put your 
hand into the fire, the fire burns it; if you lie to me, I may 
or may not cease to trust you. If I see that you are re- 
pentant and honestly struggling toward the truth, I may 
trust you the more because of the bitter experience we 
have passed through together. Thus while the natural 
consequences of any action, that is, the results depending 
upon its modification of the physical order, are inevitable, 
the moral consequences, though equally law-abiding, are 
partly determined by the attitude of the doer and will be 
altered by any change in that attitude. 

I need hardly insist on this truth to any teacher or 
parent who has had thoughtful experience with children. 
It is far less important what punishment we give a child 
than what his attitude is toward being punished. I have 
seen children quite as violently enraged over receiving the 
entirely natural consequences of their misdeeds as they 
could possibly be over any purely artificial punishment. 
Indeed, cannot^ one recall men and women of whom the 
same statement is true ? To be sure, the rage of the one 
punished does not prove the punishment bad, but correct- 
ive discipline does little for moral reformation unless we 
can win the reason of the offender to assent to its justice, 
if not his will to its reception. 

It would perhaps be captious to point further that the 
word 'natural' may mean anything, and so is the source 
of great confusion. Spencer's use of the word is surpris- 
ingly loose in the light of his usual scientific exactness of 



166 MORAL EDUCATION 

statement. It is * natural ' for an irritated parent to scold 
and for a self-controlled one to deal gently and patiently 
with a child. Which is the natural consequence that 
should be allowed to follow and so teach the inexorable- 
ness of law ? Further, if the whole function of discipline 
were to allow the child to suffer the natural consequences 
of his deeds, our office would be purely negative, consisting 
merely in keeping our hands off, a conclusion so extreme 
that even Spencer does not accept it.^ 

No, the purpose of the punishments we give children is 
just to save the waste of nature, to correct the fault before 
it has worked out its natural consequences in the spirit and 
life of the child. Sin is death; and if the individual sin 
long enough and deep enough he will find it out — by dying. 
The function of corrective discipline is just to avoid that 
result, to check the disease and if possible cure the child 
before the sad conclusion of death comes to any capac- 
ity of his spirit. 



' The best criticism of Spencer's theory I have seen is that by 
Emily A. E. Shirreff, in a pamphlet fentitled Moral Training: 
Froebel and Herbert Spencer. This brief pamphlet is full of wisdom 
and helpful suggestion. If somewhat over zealous for Froebel, it 
nevertheless presents clearly the limitations of Spencer's view, and 
shows how complementary that view and the one usually held in 
the kindergarten are to each other. 



XVI 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DIS- 
CIPLINE 

If corrective discipline should always be regarded as 
moral medicine, given to reestablish moral health in the 
child, how shall we proceed in order to administer it 
wisely and successfully? Does not the parallel physical 
case throw light on our problem ? If your child is ill in 
body you do not go to the drug-store and buy some patent 
medicine and feed it to him — not if you have some glim- 
merings of intelligence. You call in a trained expert, 
who examines the child in detail: feels the pulse, takes the 
temperature, considers the bodily habit and condition for 
days past, and thus makes his diagnosis and prescribes. 
Is moral diagnosis easier? And yet intelligent ( ?) edu- 
cators continue to advocate some specific moral medicine — 
whipping, keeping in after school, reasoning with the child, 
or whatever the proposed remedy may be — as the cure-all 
for every disease! When a difficult case of moral disease 
arises should not our method of treatment be similar to 
that which we consider wisest in dealing with bodily ill- 
ness? We need the counsel of every available expert — 
school principal, minister, physician or other wise friend; 
and the time is not far distant when in our public school 
system we shall make regular provision for such expert 
consultation. Meantime every parent and teacher must 



168 MORAL EDUCATION 

strive for all the wisdom and training possible in dealing 
with difficult problems.* The moral diagnosis is surely 
more subtle and difficult than the physical. We must make 
it with the help of all the wisdom and skill we can bring 
to bear upon the special case; and then with equal thought 
and care the needed moral medicine must be adminis- 
tered.^ There is no way of deciding beforehand what that 
medicine should be ; it must be adapted to the special state 
of the individual, and can be most wisely selected only when 
all the factors bringing about the abnormal condition are 
understood. That is why much of the discussion of cor- 
poral punishment, pro and con, has been so futile. There 
is no meaning in asking whether or not corporal punish- 
ment should be used. There are cases where a good, 
strong dose of quinine is prescribed by an intelligent 
physician as the best medicine for the child's body. So 
there are cases where a good, straight infliction of physical 
pain will best meet a child's specific moral condition.^ 
Whether the right to administer such a medicine can 
safely be entrusted to the average teacher is another 
cjuestion. Strong medicines are dangerous for general use 

* "The best humored woman in the world, if she is stupid, is not fit 
to have the care of a child." — M. and R. L. Edgeworth, Practical 
Education, vol. I, p. 138. 

^ " I confess that I have been amazed and overwhelmed, to see a 
teacher spend an hour at the blackboard, explaining arithmetical 
questions, and another hour on the reading or grammar lessons; 
and, in the meantime, as though it were only some interlude, seize 
a boy by the collar, drag him to the floor, castigate him, and remand 
him to his seat, — the whole process not occupying two minutes. 
Such laborious processes for the intellect, such summary dealings 
with the heart." — Horace Mann, The Life and Works 0} Horace 
Mann, vol. II, pp. 359-3G0. 

' " The view which sees in the rod the panacea for all the teacher's 
embarrassments is reprehensible, but equally so is the false senti- 
mentality which assumes that the dignity of humanity is affected 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 169 

in exact proportion to their effectiveness in rare cases. 
The careless use of strong remedies has done infinite harm; 
and to whip for every moral fault is exactly on the plane of 
medicine when it bled the patient for every disease. To 
administer any medicine, physical or moral, as the one 
cure for all possible diseases, is to do positive harm to 
the vast majority of cases. But leaving aside the difficult 
question of the measure of authority in using strong 
remedies which may safely be accorded to this or that 
person, certainly any medicine or method of treatment 
may be best for some special case, and the problem of 
prescription is wholly individual. 

This does not mean that we have no principles to guide 
us in prescribing : were that true, our art of moral discipline 
would degenerate into the merest artifice, and there would 
be no meaning in our attempt to study it. Again the com- 
parison with medicine holds. Definite principles of treat- 
ment are laid down for dealing with disease in its various 
forms. So morally we are guided by the great principles 
already implied: (1) Corrective discipline should aim 



by a blow given to a child, and confounds self-conscious humanity 
with child-humanity, to which a blow is the most natural form of 
reaction, when all other forms of influence have failed." — Rosen- 
KRANZ, Philosophy of Education, pp. 41-42. 

"It will be in vain to try and do entirely without corporal pun- 
ishments, which usually come in when reproofs are of no further use. 
They ought to be so rare, however, that they are feared as something 
in the distance rather- than as actually carried into effect. "_ — 
Herbart, Letters and Lectures on Education, translated by Felkin, 
p. 123. 

Compare further the discussion of punishments, corporal and 
other, by President G. Stanley Hall, in Moral Education and Will- 
Training, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. II., pp. 72-89. 

See William Hawley Smith, The Evolution of Dodd, chapter V, 
for a case where a sound whipping was the best possible moral 
medicine. 



170 MORAL EDUCATION 

solely at the eradication of the fault and the establishment 
of moral health in the child. (2) It should utilize punish- 
ments which are as natural as possible, logically flowing 
from the fault, and therefore teaching respect for the laws 
of life and prudence in the presence of the rigorous limita- 
tions Nature sets to human action. (3) It should enforce 
the discipline that gives self-control and the power to resist 
wrong desire. (4) It should waken love and pursuit of the 
virtue of which the fault is the distortion or negation. Yet, 
when all is said, the prescription in every case must be 
individual; and we must never forget, as Arthur Giles 
says in the best sentence of his little book on Moral 
Pathology (p. 3), that "In moral, as in medical pathology, 
the patient, and not the disease, must be treated." 

Let me take a few characteristic cases of moral discipline 
to illustrate the fact that while we must be guided by certain 
large principles, the application of these must be individual 
in every instance. Consider the problem of the lies which 
so many children form the habit of telling somewhere 
between the ages of seven and fourteen. Sometimes this 
habit of telling what is not true comes merely from an 
over active imagination. In such cases we need to bring 
the child into contact with reality in nature and history, 
limit somewhat the opportunities for the play of his 
fancy, and hold him persistently to making the careful 
distinction between what is or was, and what men believed 
or he fancies might be. Usually the patient application 
of this discipline will cure such cases. ^ 

By far the larger number of children's lies spring, how- 

' See a brief article by President Hall, classifying children's lies 
under seven distinct heads. Pedagogical Seminary, vol. I, pp. 211- 
218. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 171 

ever, from a different cause. The child's play of intellect 
develops in advance of his consciousness of moral relation- 
ship and his love of being true, that is, real. So he tends 
to use his growing wit to get out of unpleasant situations; 
and this tendency is greatly accentuated by the premium 
parents carelessly put on lying. The child has been 
allowed to go to a neighbor's with instructions to get back 
at five o'clock, and returns at half-past six. You ask why 
he is late, and he responds that he forgot, or Mrs. Brown 
did not tell him at the right time. Whether these state- 
ments are true or false, they tend to palliate your treatment 
of the child and thus to let him more easily out of an un- 
pleasant situation. So the habit of stating his case in its 
best possible light, making excuses that are not quite true, 
grows on him, until to our grief we discover we have a 
case of deliberate and undoubted falsehood on our hands. ^ 
The problem is serious, but we can easily take it too seriously. 
It does not mean total depravity nor does it mean what a 
deliberate lie would be for us. Some children are saved 
from this fault by a kind of dogged hold on reality, others 
by a lack of clear foresight and care for consequences; 
but just those children who are brightest intellectually, 
unless this quality is balanced by unusual moral strength, 
are the ones who develop the fault in its most obstinate 
form. 

' " To speak truth there must be moral equality or else no respect ; 
and hence between parent and child intercourse is apt to degenerate 
into a verbal fencing bout, and misapprehensions to become in- 
grained. And there is another side to this, for the parent begins with 
an imperfect notion of the child's character, formed in early years or 
during the equinoctial gales of youth ; to this he adheres, noting only 
the facts which suit with his preconception ; and wherever a person 
fancies himself unjustly judged, he at once and finally gives up the 
effort to speak truth." — Robert Louis Stevenson, Virgmibus 
Puerisque, p. 77. 



m MOiftAL 6DUCATI0N 

It may be worth while to ask : Why should the child not 
lie when that will save him from an uncomfortable situa- 
tion ? There are just two reasons why he should not : (1) 
Lying is in itself ugly and bad, and leads to the destruction 
of one's power to see and know the truth. (2) Lying is a vio- 
lation of the moral relations we sustain to others, leads to 
their distrust of us, and in the end makes living with them 
impossible. Thus our problem in dealing with this fault 
in children is, not to suppress the intellectual activity, 
but to direct it into right channels and accelerate the bal- 
ancing moral growth.^ There are three phases of treat- 
ment we can adopt: (1) We must treat the particular mis- 
deeds of the child as less bad and harmful than the deceit 
by which he seeks to avoid their unpleasant results, and 
thus cease putting the premium on lying.^ (2) We must 
foster in every possible way the child's love of truth, that 
is, his desire to be real and not a sham. (3) We must do all 
in our power to waken him to a recognition of the moral 
relation he sustains to us and to others, make him realize 
the meaning and consequence of breaking that relation, 
and so develop his sense of obligation to be true to it. 

How shall we do this ? The principles we have outlined 
are sufficient to establish conditions of good moral hygiene 
and to indicate the general method of treatment; the mo- 
ment we raise the question of specific prescription no for- 

' "The habitual gratification of all a child's wishes indirectly 
cultivates mendacity, for truth requires a robust and hardy self- 
sacrifice, which luxury makes impossible." — President Hall, Chil- 
dren's Lies, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. I, p. 218. 

^ "Above all things, an invariable rule in moral education is not to 
throw a child upon self-defense. The movement towards defending 
one's self and making excuses, is worse than almost any act of overt 
wrong." — Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Guide to the Kindergarten, 
p. 56. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 173 

mula can be given. We must work with the individual 
on the basis of the principles just outhned. Sometimes 
we can waken the child best by persisting in trusting him, 
even when he violates our confidence, thus seeking to 
touch his more generous instincts and shame him out of his 
error. The natural consequence of his fault, suspicion 
and distrust on our part, is usually harmful rather than 
helpful, unless carefully utilized to teach a specific lesson. 
In rare cases it may be wise to promise something to the 
child and then deliberately not fulfill the promise, thus en- 
forcing the lesson of what his breaking the moral relation- 
ship means, by giving him a painful example from our 
side. This expedient is obviously very dangerous, and 
would succeed only in a few cases and where most circum- 
spectly carried out. With every child erring in this way, 
we may seek to establish the habit of truth-speaking by in- 
sisting, without being a martinet, on exact statement in all 
matters, intellectual as well as moral. One great value of 
natural science is that it demands invariably exact state- 
ment; that is one reason it has done so much to cultivate 
the religion of truth in modern times. ^ 

My point is that always a multitude of expedients is at 
hand : our problem is to select and adopt from them those 
that will reach the individual case. Only, however, as 
we foster the positive moral growth in love of truth and 

^ "Habits of truthfulness are best cultivated by the use of the 
senses in exact observation. To see a simple phenomenon in nature 
and report it fully and correctly is no easy matter, but the habit of 
trying to do so teaches what truthfulness is, and leaves the impress 
of truth upon the whole life and character. I do not hesitate to 
say, therefore, that elements of science should be taught to children 
for the moral effects of its influence." — President Hall, The Moral 
and Religious Training of Children and Adolescents, Pedagogical 
Semin&ry, vol-. I, p, 201 » 



174 MORAL EDUCATION 

appreciation of human relationship can we permanently 
conquer the fault, by excluding its possibility. 

Let us consider the treatment of another characteristic 
vice — sullenness — than which none is more blighting to the 
individual nor more destructive to the happiness of the 
home. The worst is that this vice tends peculiarly to feed 
upon itself. This is true in a measure of every vice, since 
each expression deepens the fault; but sullenness shuts 
the individual up within himself, and at the same time 
creates an aversion to those about him, thus separating 
him from the best influence to help him — the persistent 
kindliness of others. Dante represents the sullen people 
as sunk in the mud of the river of hell, ever "gurgling in 
their throats : " 

"We sullen were 
In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened. 
Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; 
Now we are sullen in this sable mire." ^ 

Dante simply shows the sullen come to consciousness of 
what they are, — people who prefer to cover themselves with 
the mire of Styx rather than to smile joyously in the sun- 
shine. 

In dealing with this exasperating fault it is evident that 
its natural consequence, the expression of irritation and 
disgust on the part of those about the erring person, serves 
only to deepen the fault. What then is to be done ? 
Again we can only outline the general method of treat- 
ment, leaving its specific application to be worked out on 
the basis of a sympathetic study of the individual. First 

' Divine Comedy, Longfellow's translation, Inferno, canto VII. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 175 

of all we should strive to waken the child to the beauty of 
cheerfulness and the joy of being helpful to others. Sec- 
ond, we must appeal to his ambition for self-mastery, 
welcoming and encouraging the slightest effort he makes to 
conquer himself. Third, we should make him see that 
his vice unfits him for living happily and helpfully with 
others. Fourth, there are times when we may send the 
child off alone to fight out his problem, provided we can 
win him to accept this temporary isolation not as a resented 
punishment, but as an opportunity for getting control of 
himself. Lastly, we must express in our conduct toward 
the child the exact opposite of the behavior sullenness 
tends to produce in those who are annoyed by it, showing 
him unfailing courtesy and kindliness; for the least echo 
in us of the child's sullenness adds fresh gloom to his mood. 
Rare indeed are the cases where we may dare to give the 
strong purgative of our vigorous expression of annoyance 
at his conduct. 

Thus in all application of corrective discipline our cen- 
tral aim must be to waken the positive moral life of the 
child. His discouragement may be a serious blight,^ as 
the non-consent of his reason and even the opposition of 
his will may be a dangerous obstacle to the good result of 
the punishment. At the same time we must beware of 
sugar-coating our moral medicine. While the child's 
courage and enthusiasm are the most helpful allies we can 
enlist, there must be a rigid backbone in our discipline. 
I have pointed out the folly of trying to trick a child into 
obedience : let me emphasize the fact that, if often econom- 

^ "Dejection which becomes habitual is consumption of the char- 
acter." — Herbart, Science of Education, translated by Felkin, p. 
213. 



176 MORAL EDUCATION 

ically helpful, such a procedure is usually morally worthless. 
As it is well that a child should know that he is obeying and 
conform because it is right, so it is well that he should recog- 
nize that he is receiving moral medicine, often bitter and 
distasteful to him, but which is necessary to his best life 
and given that he may attain it. 

It remains to say a word about the use of rewards — the 
most misunderstood element in the whole problem of dis- 
cipline. People speak of 'rewards and punishments' 
as if the two terms were entirely correlative; but they are 
not so. The reward which in the nature of things follows 
good action, — joy in the doing, the loving appreciation of 
those who are helped by the deed, the positive benefit of 
the deed to oneself and others, — is, like food and sunshine 
for the physical organism, a wonderful nourisher and 
quickener of the moral life. The element of it most 
within our control is the warm expression of our love and 
appreciation for every good action on the part of our chil- 
dren. This should be given in fullest measure. Not only 
do children need it and benefit greatly by it, but many an 
adult life is half-starved spiritually for want of just that 
generous expression of appreciation which should be one 
of the most natural consequences of moral action and en- 
deavor. Nor is there often in this regard any subtle prob- 
lem of personal adjustment as in the case of punishment. 
While we must beware of praising too openly the child 
who is rather consciously virtuous, it is rare that a human 
being can receive too much sunshine in either the physical 
or the moral life. 

The specific and arbitrary rewards, on the other hand, 
which we give children over and above these natural 
results of their good conduct, are directly comparable to 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 177 

physical stimulants. It is well known what happens when 
stimulants are substituted for nourishing food; and if in 
the moral world the adventitious reward takes, in the child's 
thought, the place of the natural consequences of good action, 
the result is a flabby, ill-nourished character, unable to 
stand erect, and craving an extra and increasing stimulant 
for every action in harmony with law. ^ Thus there are 
ample grounds for the vigorous modern reaction against 
this sort of rewards; indeed, that reaction is one of the 
most hopeful signs in present education. There is no 
reason why a child should regularly be given candy for 
sitting still, or be promised a drive for ceasing to tease his 
brother; nor is there any reason why a student should be 
given twenty dollars for getting his lessons honestly. To 
work merely for the prize is like eating a meal for the sake 
of a teaspoonful of "Beef, Wine and Iron" at the end. 

Yet there are cases physically where a good physician 
would unhesitatingly prescribe a stimulant to rouse into 
action some abnormally torpid function. So morally, a 
sluggish nature may need just the stimulus of an appeal 
to the instinct of emulation and rivalry, which has a sound 
value in human life when rightly expressed and duly subor- 
dinated to higher motives. Thus even prizes may have a 
place, though a small one; and we should allow neither 
the frequent abuse of them nor the modern reaction against 

I "No less detrimental to the attainment of human life is the pre- 
dominance frequently given in religious instruction to the promise 
of reward for good deeds in a future life, if they seem to go unre- 
warded in this life. Brutal minds who hold sensual pleasure highest 
are not affected by this', bo5'S and human beings generally, with a 
normally good disposition, do not need it. For, if our life is pure, if 
our actions are right and good, no reward in a future world is needed, 
even though in this world all may be lacking that seems valuable to 
the sensual man."^FROEBEL, The Education of Man, translated by 
Hailmann, p. 244, 



178 MORAL EDUCATION 

their use to obscure for us their occasional therapeutic 
value. To have this value they must be given as rarely 
and carefully as a physician prescribes a physical stimulant, 
and we must never let them be substituted for the real 
nourishment of the moral life. Moreover, their use is 
helpful, not when they are given for superior natural en- 
dowments, but when they are used to stimulate sincere 
effort. With these restrictions, it is possible to make them 
a temporarily helpful if an altogether subordinate element 
in furthering moral growth. 

I have spoken, in previous chapters, of the danger of 
over-regulation of child life: nowhere is that danger 
greater than in the whole problem of administering cor- 
rective discipline. It is always true that too much medi- 
cine is worse than none at all. In moral discipline nagging 
is worse than futile, and the ceaseless commands of a mar- 
tinet lose all effectiveness.^ Thus we must learn to dis- 
tinguish between what is essential and what is not. It is 
fatal to take everything a child does on the same plane of 
seriousness; and a sense of humor, which enables us to 
regard as amusing childish incongruities, what otherwise 

' "Are not the constant, and often quite needless, thwartings that 
the young experience — the injunctions to sit still, which an active 
child cannot obey without suffering great nervous irritation, the 
commands not to look out of the window when traveling by railway, 
which on a child of any intelligence entails serious deprivation — are 
not these thwartings, we ask, signs of aterrible lack of sympathy?" — 
Spencer, Education, p. 168. 

"Parents should use consideration in their commands. If a 
child is absorbed in an occupation, the mother might well think 
twice before she asks him to leave it to get her a glass of water. 
Should he not hear her voice at once, this is a good sign, not a bad 
one. The quality of attention to the work on hand, that concentra- 
tion which forgets all outside distractions, is a most desirable trait 
and should be encouraged." — Susan Chenery, As the Twig is Bent, 
p. 35. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 179 

we should treat as annoying faults, is indispensable to the 
wise control of children. One value of sending the child 
away from home for a time is that we thereby gain per- 
spective with reference to his faults, and so can concentrate 
our energies on helping him over those which are really 
important. Some measure of vigorous expression must 
be allowed children even when it is awkward and annoying. 
This principle is the more important since so many of 
the faults of children belong to stages of their development 
and are wholly or in part outgrown after a time. Take for 
instance the exasperating tendency to tease younger chil- 
dren which develops in nearly every child at some period 
of his life. This offensive disease passes much like 
measles or whooping-cough, and many a brother and sister 
who have it in severe form are afterwards tenderly devoted 
to each other. We should, nevertheless, not neglect these 
more transient faults; if we do they are apt to leave per- 
manent evil effects in the moral life of the individual. 
The need is that we should recognize that the fault is 
characteristic of a phase of growth and treat it as such, 
not as a permanent perversion of the child's spirit. 

Even wise restraint and correction should never occupy 
the chief place in the relation of the parent or the teacher 
to the child. If a father sees his children little except at 
meal-times he would better let many a fault in table-man- 
ners go uncorrected rather than give his children the 
notion that his main function is to reprove them. The 
wisest self-restraint is necessary in all expression of au- 
thority in corrective discipline.^ 

> "Do not educate too much; refrain from all avoidable application 
of that power by which the teacher bends his pupils this way and 
that, dominates their dispositions, and destroys their cheerfulness." 
— Herbart, The Science of Education, translated by Felkin, p. 106, 



180 MORAL EDUCATION 

Thus the problem of corrective discipHne is one of fine 
proportion; clear as are the great principles involved, 
their wise application is possible only on the basis of a 
careful and sympathetic study of each child. We must 
seek to understand his peculiar tendencies and character- 
istics, the phase of development through which he is pass- 
ing, and every disturbing factor that influences his reaction. 
Especially must we recognize the intimate relation of mind 
and body and the immediate effect of any physical disturb- 
ance on conduct. Nervousness tends to irritability and 
mischievousness; physical depression gives a gloomy and 
irresponsive mental attitude; indigestion makes the child 
peevish : thus every physical condition is a modifying ele- 
ment in behavior. To be sure, the child needs to learn 
to control himself even under physical illness; but we who 
seek to give him moral medicine must recognize every 
factor in his disease. We must learn to utilize physical 
training in the discipline for moral uprightness, bodily 
cleanliness as an influence for personal purity. 

As the child is then a unity, so must be the treatment he 
receives. We have been considering in turn different 
means of moral education, we must see that, after all, the 
practical value of each one depends upon its relation to all 
the rest. Every detail of discipline must be interpreted 
in terms of the entire circle of treatment the child receives. 
That is why full and unvarying cooperation with each 
other, on the part of all who are dealing with the prob- 
lem of the child's culture, is so indispensable. If the 
mother's decision is reversed by the father, family dis- 
cipline becomes a farce. If the child plays teacher and 
parent off against each other, receiving sympathy from one 
for the punishment given by the other, the result is con- 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE 181 

tempt for all authority. How discipline is paralyzed 
by the mutual suspicions of parents and teachers, each 
regarding the other as a kind of natural enemy and resent- 
ing any effort at inquiry and assistance as an intrusion into 
his own sphere! Frequent meeting togetlier on the part 
of all who share in the control of the children, with full, 
frank, trusting cooperation, is the necessary basis of all 
helpful discipline.^ The physician of the body and the 
physician of the soul may well be invited to join with those 
who, whether parents or teachers, must be both in one. 

The needed cooperation must involve on the parents' 
part the concession of some measure of real authority to 
the teacher and the withholding of any interference with the 
authority conceded. There must be real authority, in 
order to gain the child's respect and make the discipline 
effective in educating him to obedience to law. The 
withdrawal of real authority from teachers in certain 
highly cultivated communities has led to much of the 'ad- 
ventitious 'managing' which we have found to be so 
harmful morally. To concede authority to the average 
teacher involves risks, I know; but little good can come 
unless we are willing to risk something; and think of the 
measure of authority the order of life concedes to the aver- 
age parent! If Nature has dared to trust us so fully, 
surely we owe some measure of the same trust to those who 
are fellow-workers with us in the moral culture of our 
children. 



> Harriet A. Marsh, in A New Aspect of Child Study , Pedagogic- 
al Seminary, vol. V, pp. 136-145, describes a typical and successful 
experiment in bringing mothers and teachers together to discuss 
their common interests. 



XVII 

PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND 

TEACHER IN THE GOVERNMENT 

OF CHILDREN 

We have now considered the various aspects of the 
problem of government in home and school. It is neces- 
sary to recognize further that the personal character of 
those exercising the control will be the power behind all 
others in determining its moral effect upon the children 
governed. Personal influence remains a great force 
throughout human life; but it is far more powerful with 
children than with adults, not only because of the well- 
known imitative tendency of children, but because the 
child's world is distinctly a personal world. The activities 
of nature and the order of human society are alike con- 
ceived by him in terms of the personal will and 'desire he is 
conscious of within himself. Thus the parent and the 
teacher, who mediate between the child and the universe 
of law, have an opportunity to give the crowning influence 
for moral education. 

Moreover, the control of children is much more personal 
than is government in adult society. It is true the element 
of personality enters also into government in the state. 
The safety and progress of any society must depend in part 
upon securing men and women of earnest and true character 
to exercise the various governmental functions. Yet in the 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 183 

state we have a constitution and a definite body of law; 
while in the home and the school, within loose limits, it is 
only the conscience of the one in authority that can guide 
his action. Moreover, in the state we carefully separate 
the three functions of government, at least in theory, and 
make one a check upon the others. We would not dare 
to trust even a Washington or a Lincoln with the per- 
manent exercise of all three functions of government; 
yet in the home and the school these are united in a single 
person. It is true, the individual teacher is limited by the 
principal, superintendent, school board, and by the law 
of the community, while much more vaguely the parent is 
subject to the restraint of law and public opinion. Still, 
in all the ordinary affairs of school and home life, the par- 
ent and the teacher exercise all three functions of govern- 
ment: laying down the law for the child, deciding when 
it is obeyed or disobeyed, and executing it over him. 
Thus paternalism, which we question in the state, has un- 
doubtedly its place in the government of children. More- 
over, in home and school, the one holding authority is often 
at once judge and aggrieved party, so that great love and 
care are demanded if power is to be used solely for the good 
of the child. Thus, in all the little elements of home and 
school, the parent and the teacher can influence children 
for good or evil to a degree not equaled in any of the rela- 
tions of mature life. 

There are striking differences in the equipment of teach- 
ers and parents respectively for this difficult task. We 
complain justly of the inefficiency of our teaching force 
today. We have not begun to educate and select our 
teachers as we shall when we pay, as President Eliot wisely 
insists we must, four or five times as much for our public 



184 MORAL EDUCATION 

schools as we do now.^ Meantime, even today teachers 
are a highly selected class in the community. They re- 
ceive a degree of both liberal and special culture far above 
the average of their fellow-citizens; and there is no class, 
not excepting the ministry, more consecrated to»its mission. 
On the other hand, almost any kind of a human being, 
even a physically and morally diseased one, is apt to feel 
that he has a perfect right to be a parent if he»wishes. The 
way public conscience on this problem halts behind its 
general development is really amazing. The* most power- 
ful of all single influences we can exert is that of direct 
heredity; yet we leave its action to chance and personal 
choice, while carefully restraining the individual in his 
treatment of the child after it has appeared upon this scene. 
I realize that I am repeating a very old complaint ; and the 
reason we are slow to act upon it is partly that the action 
of heredity is so mysterious and unaccountable. More- 
over, heredity is not the grim ogre it seemed in the Elsie 
Venner^ days when the great applications of biological 
discoveries to humanity were first made. We know that 
the influences of envii^nment and education can modify 
the stuff of humanity, physically, mentally and morally, in 
simply a marvelous degree. Still, these forces can work 
only with the material given by heredity; and where the 
chances are large that the offspring will be feeble-minded 
or insane, if the individual is not moral enough to refrain 
from reproducing himself, it would seem that society as a 

' Compare the admirable addiesses by President Eliot in More 
Money for the Public Schools. 

^ Oliver Wendell Holmes's novel of that name is an interesting 
illustration of the older theory of heredity from which, happily, 
science has receded. 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 185 

whole should restrain his freedom of action.^ I take the 
extreme case for illustration : what is needed is an awaken- 
ing of conscience, both individual and public, in reference 
to the problem. 

Not less necessary is an awakening of conscience in 
reference to the vocation of parenthood. Certainly that 
oflSce demands as much preparation as the profession of 
teaching; yet how heedlessly we undertake it. There is 
some recent progress toward better preparation, it is true. 
Mothers are beginning to see that their vocation requires 
a considerable measure of both liberal and special train- 
ing. Mothers' clubs are helping to develop this more 
earnest attitude. On the other hand, the profession of 
fatherhood (even the phrase sounds strange) is practically 
undiscovered. Most fathers feel that they have done quite 
well by their children if they have won for them the measure 
and kind of food, clothing and shelter demanded by the 
social standard of their group. Men are under a terrible 
economic pressure, it is true. The tension of the industrial 
struggle has never been so severe for all classes as it is in 
our America today. Yet what fathers need to understand 
is that food, clothing and shelter, luxurious or simple, can 
never compensate to the child for loss of the father's com- 
panionship ; that it would be better for the child to get on 
with less material comfort and even suffer some physical 

' An astonishing bit of data was recently given me by the principal 
of a school for the feeble-minded: he said that one of his difficult 
administrative problems arose from the frequent desire of attendants 
to marry inmates of the institution. He cited a case that had just 
occurred, where a nurse had written the parents of a feeble-minded 
ward asking them to have their son sent home that she might marry 
him. Of course she was discharged, but she succeeded in marrying 
the youth. A physician who was present when the incident was 
narrated remarked grimly, "Well, at least she will know how to take 
care of her children!" 



186 MORAL EDUCATION 

hardship, if by so doing he could have some direct contact 
each day with his father, when the latter's helpful influ- 
ence might be exercised over him. It is interesting that 
often fathers with some margin of economic success are the 
most careless, while one of the compensating elements in 
the life of the poor is the frequent close family companion- 
ship. 

It should never be forgotten, however, that the parental 
instinct, while it does not usually awaken in time to give the 
best preparation for the vocation of parenthood, is a tre- 
mendous force driving the parent to the fulfillment of his 
task when it has come to him. If a teacher is usually far 
better trained for his profession than a parent, he can only 
stand in silent awe before the infinite patience, tenderness 
and self-forgetfulness a mother characteristically shows. 
The peculiar intimacy of the bond between parent and 
child, a bond established in the most fundamental instincts 
of the organism, brings to the fulfillment of the parental 
function an amount of loving care and devotion unmatched 
elsewhere in human life.^ That is why almost any kind 
of a home is better for children than any kind of a 
"Home." Philanthropical societies for the protection 
of children have done good work in removing children 
from homes that have become so degraded, such a travesty 
on the word, that the children's physical as well as moral 

1 "Another thing makes moral education, according to Froebel's 
view, especially a home task, and it is that with young children 
education works so directly through feeling. It is parental love that 
gives the moral influence, apart from and adding to parental au- 
thority, on which so much of the right cultivation of feeling and 
motive and conduct depend. The teacher can only follow afar in 
the track of those parents who understand and are fit for their holy 
ofhce." — Emily A.E.SHiRREFF,Morai Training: Froebel and Herbert 
Spencer, p. 7. 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 187 

life is endangered; but well-meaning societies often err on 
the side of over-interference. It is doubtful if a single grave 
moral fault in the parent is as harmful as the deadening 
hand of an institution;^ and certainly economic failure 
under industrial conditions like ours is never enough to 
justify the enforced breaking of "the bond that Nature 
makes." Protect children in every possible way, but, 
except as a last extreme measure when all others have 
failed, do not disrupt the home and so abrogate the one 
supreme influence in molding a strong human character. 

Thus there are striking inequalities in the fitness of 
parents and teachers for the performance of their respective 
functions. On the one hand, at least half the burden under 
which the public school struggles today is work that should 
have been done in the home and has not been accomplished 
there. On the other hand, the better training of the teacher 
gives him frequently an arrogance leading him to disdain 
the judgment of the parent, which, less intellectual, is 
based upon long-continued physical and moral intimacy 
with the child. Meantime, both parents and teachers 
are engaged not merely in a profession, but in a mission 
to save childhood — to save by calling forth and developing 
the best implicit life. It is no excuse for one that another's 
task is unfinished or mismanaged. Our business is not to 
fill an economic measure: each one who is alive to the 
need must do his own work and as much of the unfinished 
work of others as possible. Since so large a part of all the 
personal influence to which children are subjected is acci- 
dental and often harmful, there is the more need for 

* Compare Father Huntington's searching analysis of the evils of 
institutional life for children in pp. 171-182 of Philanthropy and 
Social Progress, by Jane Addams, et al. 



188 MORAL EDUCATION 

consecration on the part of the parents and teachers who 
are awake. 

As the child needs the influence of both father and 
mother, so he needs the influence of both men and women 
teachers. One of the gravest problems of our public 
system of education is the almost complete exclusion of 
men from teaching positions below^ the high school. The 
reasons for this movement are economic and evident; but 
children need contact with teachers of both sexes in order 
to develop the most rounded and healthy moral life. We 
must waken public sentiment that will enable us to pay 
whatever is necessary, in money and otherwise, to secure 
men teachers as well as women in all the process of educa- 
tion. 

It is what the parent or teacher is, not what he pre- 
tends to be, that influences children. We hear it said that 
parents and teachers should be models to their children: 
nothing can be more disastrous than to attempt that. Few 
if any of us are worthy to be models, and to try to stand as 
such is to think more and more about how we appear, and 
less and less about what we are — which is the highroad 
to hypocrisy. What we need is not to pretend the virtues 
necessary to helpful influence over children, but to struggle 
toward those virtues with all our might. 

We can easily discover the needed elements of character 
by asking what virtues make the personality of the head 
of the state helpful to all the citizens. What, for instance, 
were the qualities that made the character of Lincoln so 
uplifting to every American citizen who understood him 
and sympathized with his aims? They were: first, sin- 
cerity — intense, even sombre sincerity; second, uncom- 
promising justice; third, love or humanity, that is, a 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 189 

loving of the best for all. We cannot love all people in 
a personal way, but it is possible to love and desire the best 
for each one; and such a love was the crowning element in 
the character of Lincoln. It was these three virtues that 
gave moral power to Lincoln's personality, winning him 
the lasting reverence of those who misunderstood and 
opposed, as well as those who followed him. It is just 
these three virtues that are so necessary in the character 
of the parent and the teacher if our government of children 
is to be morally helpful, only we must multiply many times 
their importance in an executive of the state to realize 
their power in the home and the school. 

Of these virtues, sincerity is the most fundamental, since 
it is the very basis of character. Indeed, one's sincerity 
is simply the measure of one's moral reality. It is impos- 
sible to exaggerate the importance of this quality in all our 
relation to children. They are far more sensitive to sin- 
cerity or its absence than are we, owing to the measure of 
habitual lying present in our business and social life. It is 
not a very dark kind of lying, this that we practise in saying 
what we do not mean — both speaker and listener are 
vaguely aware of the falsehood — but its cumulative result 
is to dull the edge of our instinct for truth. Thus we tend 
to lose something of our power to distinguish between the 
real and the unreal. Children have not yet come into the 
world where good manners and business success are sup- 
posed to demand habitual untruthfulness. Their lies fall 
into another category, and they are even annoyingly 
frank in expressing just what they feel. It is therefore 
they are so keenly sensitive to moral reality. They may 
not know why they dislike a certain teacher, but they are 
repelled by insincerity; they may not understand what 



190 MORAL EDUCATION 

draws them to this other, but a real human being, who 
means something, always attracts them. 

I suppose we recognize this sufficiently in purely intellec- 
tual matters. The parent does not hesitate to confess his 
ignorance when the child questicjins him. This is more 
difficult for the teacher, since to know is his business. It 
is hard to stand up before a class and say "The answer I 
gave to the problem in arithmetic yesterday was wrong," 
or, "I was mistaken in the date I gave in the history lesson;" 
yet, if the mistake has been made surely every wise teacher 
recognizes that honest confession is the only safe way out. 
Of course, if the teacher has not the background of larger 
knowledge necessary to his work, and continues to acknowl- 
edge his mistakes, in the end he loses his position. But in 
such a situation this is just what is best for the teacher as 
well as for the children. It is ruinous to try to continue 
in a position one is hopelessly unfitted to fill. One can 
keep hold only by using something else than character and 
intelligence; and when it comes to a question of losing 
one's situation or losing one's soul no sensible person would 
hesitate long at the choice. 

Unfortunately the identical application of the principle 
to the moral world is not so clearly seen. If a parent has 
punished a child unjustly it is hard to say "My child, I did 
wrong, and I am sorry for it;" yet if the mistake has been 
made is there any other safe way out? "Oh!" it is ex- 
claimed, "if we apologize to our children, they will lose 
their respect for us." Now, it may well be questioned 
why we should demand that our children reverence us; 
but aside from that, is it true that a frank apology will 
lessen the child's real respect for us? Let me give an 
illustration: I remember speaking severely to a five-year- 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 191 

old child who was misbehaving at the table. She answered 
quite discourteously. On being asked why she had spoken 
so, she said : " Oh, I only wanted to show you the tone of 
voice you used ! " Impudent, of course; and we have seen 
how necessary it is to the child's welfare that we should 
suppress his impudence. Yet in the case in question I had 
done wrong; and the child, recognizing the fact, seized, 
with the quick wit children often show in emergencies, 
upon the easiest way to divert attention and escape from 
an unpleasant situation. 

Suppose one were to use one's force of moral and physical 
personality and simply suppress the child: the child is 
silenced but despises the parent who had to resort to his 
superior size. Suppose, on the other hand, the parent ac- 
knowledges his fault and apologizes for it: when he turns 
to the further question of the child's impudence his hands 
are strengthened. He meets the child on the plane of 
moral equality in reference to right action, the only plane 
on which any moral q'uestion can be solved. The child 
straightens up; it is no longer five years old or three feet 
high, but a human spirit to whom you have said — by your 
action, not in words — "My child, I see in you a spirit 
entrusted through some mystery of the universe for a little 
time to my care, and I recognize it as my earnest duty to 
give you whatever treatment will help you out into the 
sanest and sweetest life." 

It is in the latter case that the real respect of the child is 
kept, — not the notion of our supposed infallibility, sure to be 
shattered sooner or later, but the reverence that comes 
from seeing more and more clearly that, through all our 
mistakes, we have been striving, not for our ease or com- 
fort, but for the child's welfare. To try to keep in the 



192 MORAL EDUCATION 

child's mind a notion of our infallibility is dangerous in the 
extreme. We are not infallible, and the child must dis- 
cover the fact sooner or later. To make* the discovery 
suddenly in the period of transition to young manhood 
and v^omanhood often gives a moral shock that does per- 
manent harm. It is our business to save the child from 
such shocks. Moreover, it is not our imperfect, blunder- 
ing personality we should wish the child to reverence, but 
the order of the universe we are striving to interpret to 
him, those 

"Unwritten laws of God that know not change. 
They are not of today nor yesterday, 
But live forever, nor can man assign 
When first they sprang to being." ^ 

The earlier the child's respect can pass from us to those 
unvarying laws, the better for both, and the more surely 
will the deeper reverence for the parent's sincerity of aim 
and effort be retained into mature life. 

Thus the adult deserves respect, not as an arbitrary 
authority, but as a mediator: to secure the child's rever- 
ence for law the parent himself must be law-abiding. 
Froebel recognized clearly this common subserviency of 
adult and child to the law ruling over both, and stated it 
finely in a passage of The Education of Man (Hailmann's 
translation, pages 14-15) : 

"Between the two, between educator and pupil, be- 
tween request and obedience, there should invisibly rule a 
third something, to which educator and pupil are equally 
subject. This third something is the right, the best, neces- 

' Sophocles, Antigone, Plumptre's translation. 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 193 

sarily conditioned and expressed without arbitrariness in 
the circumstances. The calm recognition, the clear 
knowledge, and the serene, cheerful obedience to the rule 
of this third something is the particular feature that should 
be constantly and clearly manifest in the bearing and con- 
duct of the educator and teacher, and often firmly and 
sternly emphasized by him. The child, the pupil, has a 
very keen feeling, a very clear apprehension, and rarely 
fails to distinguish, whether what the educator, the teacher, 
or the father says or requests is personal or arbitrary, or 
whether it is expressed by him as a general law and neces- 
sity." 

Thus there can be no helpful control of children without 
entire sincerity in the parent and teacher. Not only can we 
afford to risk frankness and truth in our government 
of children : anything but sincerity is a sure road to moral 
disaster. 

As children are more sensitive to moral reality than we 
are, so they feel more keenly justice and injustice; and for 
a similar reason. As adults we live in a world involving 
some measure of moral compromise. The ideals we start 
with in life are difficult to harness in the world's work. 
We make concessions to expediency here, and compromise 
with conditions there, until the middle-aged man wakens 
to wonder where his ideals have gone. Whether such com- 
promise is ever admissible, or always wrong, is a question 
I cannot undertake here; its presence as an almost uni- 
versal fact of human life must be acknowledged. Children 
have not yet come into this world of moral compromise; 
they have no baffling experience to give them a philosophy 
of expediency, and thus in so far a.« they think at all they 
are uncompromising rationalists^ seeing the pure law and 



194 MORAL EDUCATION 

applying it with no consciousness of possible exceptions.^ 
Many a father has been shamed out of some dishonorable 
action by his child's simple assumption that if you think 
a certain deed is right, of course you will do it. All re- 
formers who have held to the absoluteness of the moral 
law have been simply grown up children, men and women 
who have kept the child's moral rationalism.^ 

Therefore little actions of justice and injustice make a 
far deeper impression on children than on older people. 
We must struggle to be scrupulously and patiently just in 
all personal discipline. Any element of favoritism or un- 
fairness will be a sad obstacle to all that we are trying to do 
for the child's moral culture. However, let us ask what 
we mean by justice. We continue to hire sculptors to make 
statues of a blindfolded goddess with scales in her hand, 
which we erect on our court-houses and in our public 
squares. We demand that Justice shall be "no respecter 
of persons," weighing deeds objectively without reference 
to the personality. Is that the conception of justice we 
need in relation to our children? I think not. Ob- 
viously, what we mean by our insistence that Justice shall 
be no respecter of persons, is that all human beings should 
be equal before the law, that adventitious elements such 
as clothes, money, family, social and political position 
shall not affect the administration of the laws. Such a 

' " I find that children's minds are remarkably suggestive, that they 
display a truly wonderful command of illustrative material, and that 
their moral perceptions are exceedingly acute. I am constantly 
amazed at the fine distinctions which they are capable of drawing, 
and in this respect they seem far to excel their elders, whose moral 
sensibilities have been blunted and whose moral judgment has been 
warped by the degrading influence of the struggle for existence." — 
Felix Adler, The Moral Instruction of the Young, p. 5. 

^ Compare Earl Barnes, The Child as a Social Factor, Studies in 
Education, vol. I, pp. 355-360. 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 195 

demand is right, and we should fulfill it with children as 
scrupulously as with adults. It means, again, merely that 
we should exclude elements that are arbitrary and whim- 
sical and be law-abiding in the exercise of our authority. 
Yet whatever we hold with reference to the state, Justice 
in the home and the school must go far beyond that de- 
mand and be in a very deep sense a respecter of persons. 

Let me make the problem clear by an illustration. 
Suppose you are a public school teacher into whose room 
comes a boy from what we should rightly call a good home : 
that is, a child who has been taught by every lesson of his 
experience hitherto that if he will only do the best he can 
everyone is anxious to help him. He commits some fault. 
Beside him sits a boy who comes from what would be 
ineffably dignified were we to call it a home, who has not 
been humanly born into the world, but merely spawned 
and left to survive as he might, who has been taught by 
each lesson of his bitter experience hitherto that every 
man's hand, yes, and sadly enough, every woman's, even 
his mother's, is against him, so that if he wants anything 
he must take it for himself. He commits the same fault. 
Would you punish the two children in the same way? 
It is said, "If you do not the school will exclaim that you 
are showing favoritism." Doubtless the school would, 
indeed it is to be hoped so, for if you jump suddenly from 
a plane of purely arbitrary punishment to a moral plane, 
you cannot expect the children to follow you at once, and 
their demurring is an evidence of some judgment. 

What, however, would be the temptation to the ordinary 
teacher ? I do not mean the Christ-like teacher who has 
overcome all the common weaknesses, but just the average 
human being who teaches school, — interested in the chil- 



196 MORAL EDUCATION 

dren, but glad when the term is over; liking to teach 
school well enough, but anxious for pay-day to come, — 
what would be the temptation to such a teacher? With 
the good child one may easily sympathize; he is clean and 
attractive. It is pleasant to take his point of view and 
appreciate that he is only a thoughtless child. So you 
incline to say, "Well, never mind, you will not do it again." 

It is neither easy nor pleasant to enter into the other 
child and take his point of view. He is dirty, physically 
and morally, and it is impossible to love unclean people, 
unless we begin by loving the potential and marred hu- 
manity that is in them. This child will not look you in 
the face; he smells bad; the words he speaks are vulgar and 
offensive to you — how could they be otherwise, poor child! 
he has heard no other. You probably seat him imme- 
diately in front of you where you can get your hand on 
him easily, or else in the far corner of the room where he 
can do little harm and be least offensive. It is easy to 
stand apart from this child and say, "We are sorry for 
you, but the law must be enforced and you must take your 
punishment." 

There is no rule for dealing with these two cases; yet 
should not our treatment of the two children in general be 
opposite to that which the unthinking teacher is tempted 
to follow ? The good little boy, who has learned from all 
his past experience that everyone is anxious to help him 
if he will but try, needs one more lesson : he needs to learn 
that he must try ; and we often make so-called * good ' 
children into moral weaklings by not teaching them that 
lesson. The other child! — If you cannot waken the poor, 
frozen atom of what should have been a human heart into 
something like humanity, how can you give him any moral 



PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF PARENT AND TEACHER 197 

medicine at all, any treatment that will not simply make 
him hate you, the school you teach, the society you repre- 
sent, and the law you are trying to interpret to him ? 

Thus the Justice we need in the government of our 
children, far from being no respecter of persons, must have 
a heart of tender, loving appreciation of the spirit and atti- 
tude of the individual child whom we would help. Hence 
the crowning virtue needed by parent and teacher in all 
control of children is love. Love is the doorway to all 
personal appreciation; it makes it possible for us to enter 
the spirit of another and see the world from his point of 
view. It alone supplies the infinite patience, care and 
tenderness through which we learn to see into the hearts 
of our children and to bring to bear upon them the in- 
fluences that will correct and chasten and mold into har- 
monious life. Force, physical or mental, knowledge, 
reason, — necessary as they may be, — these are ineffective 
instruments compared with love in building the character 
of our children. We can love them into a beauty of spirit 
to which we cannot force or reason them. If, ever, it 
should be difficult for us to love the children entrusted 
to our care, we can put ourselves in the way of loving them 
and strive to love the best for them, and that in the end 
leads to personal love. 

The love that is so necessary is not opposed to justice; 
on the contrary, it is the heart of the justice the parent or 
teacher needs. Justice without love becomes cruelty, as 
love without justice degenerates into sentimentality and 
moral weakness. Thus the two virtues must be fused 
into one, and this higher union of the two is what is so 
necessary in our relation to children. Our love must have 
an element of iron in it. It must be willing to give pain 



198 MORAL EDUCATION 

to the loved one where that is necessary to his moral health. 
Parents who say, "I love my child too much to punish 
him," either mean by punishment merely whipping, or 
else love, not the child and his welfare, but their own ease 
and comfort. It is far easier to say, "Never mind, let it 
go," than to say, "My child, let us sit down together and 
try to understand what you have done and how you can 
be helped over your mistake," and then to give the moral 
medicine that is needed. Thus the earnest strength of 
justice and the tender appreciation of love must unite in 
us, on the basis of sincerity, if our personal influence is to 
serve the child's best moral development through all the 
functions of government we exercise, as parents and teach- 
ers, over him. 



xvnr 

MORAL TEACHING BY EXAMPLE 

It is not only in the direct government of children that 
they are influenced by the personal character of the parent 
and the teacher; whether we wish to do so or not, we are 
constantly teaching by example, because of the child's 
direct imitation of our behavior. We frequently have 
cause to regret this tendency of the child to echo the 
example we set before him, since we realize painfully the 
unworthiness of the example; but no tendency of child 
life is clearer, and we must recognize it as an unavoidable 
element of the problem. Indeed, the recognition of this 
fact is one of the most helpful influences in the moral edu- 
cation of the parent. Perhaps nothing else can so spur 
us to self-control as to hear our carelessly vulgar language 
echoed back from the mouths of our children and see our 
sullen and irritable behavior reflected by them. Thus 
every adult associated with children must take account of 
the fact that they are influenced by the standard of behavior 
he sets before them and must see to it that the standard is 
as worthy as possible. I do not mean that he should over- 
shoot the mark and fall into hypocrisy by seeking to appear 
better than he is : I mean that he should strive to be as 
worthy as possible. 

Just here one of the most perplexing questions meets us. 
In many things the right standard for the adult differs 



200 MORAL EDUCATION 

somewhat from that appHcable to the child. Shall the 
adult follow the standard that is suitable for children, or 
shall he follow his own and seek to make the child under- 
stand the dilFerence ? In general, I think the latter. Cer- 
tain things to eat are healthful for the parent, but injurious 
to the child. It is not best to give them up, nor to exclude 
the child from the table when they are upon it, but to 
accustom him from the beginning to recognize that as a 
child he must forego certain pleasures which he may 
enjoy in maturity. In the extreme case all must admit 
this principle: surely there is no reason why the parent 
should go to bed at seven or the child sit up until eleven 
to bring the two standards of behavior together. 

The question becomes difficult, how^ever, just in that 
margin of our behavior where habits which are relatively 
non-moral so easily slip over into what is positively harmful- 
Smoking is perhaps the best example. All physicians 
are agreed that the habit of smoking is injurious to a grow- 
ing child or youth. Many physicians hold, however, that 
smoking, kept rigidly within limits, and used as a means of 
relaxation and not as a stimulant to work, is not appre- 
ciably injurious to an adult, and may add greatly to the 
pleasure of social intercourse. What, then, should be 
the attitude of a father or schoolmaster in this connec- 
tion? Should he renounce the habit as setting an exam- 
ple he does not wish his boys to imitate, even though 
he believes it entirely right for himself; or should he con- 
tinue to live to his own conviction, and trust to making the 
children understand the difference in standard for youth 
and maturity? I believe the main key to the solution is 
this: Is the father or teacher convinced that the habit is 
one he would be glad to have his boys acquire in maturity 



MORAL TEACHING BY EXAMPLE 201 

just as he practises it ? If this question can truthfully be 
answered affirmatively there is no direct reason for fore- 
going the habit; but if the father or teacher has a half- 
confessed sense that he would answer the question nega- 
tively, it means he is not really living to his own highest 
standard and would better turn around. 

There may be indirect reasons for self-denial, even when 
there is no direct one. The current social practice may so 
abuse a habit, pushing it over from the non-moral to the 
immoral field, that an example of more rigid abstinence is 
necessary as a corrective. Still, such an example may be 
misconstrued, and lead to contempt instead of imitation. 
Temperance is always harder than abstinence and is 
usually better. Life means a sane balance of activities; 
and an example of harmonious self-control, putting every- 
thing in its place, may be far more effective than one of 
asceticism assumed for didactic purposes. There is a 
further corrective principle, however. Where one man 
errs in exaggerated self-denial, a dozen sink into the slough 
of self-indulgence. Sensualism and asceticism may be 
equally failure, but the former is the common danger. 
Especially is this true where the mastery of material con- 
ditions is such that desires can be easily gratified and there 
is little need of struggle. Then asceticism becomes a 
sound instrument of education, and some measure of even 
unnecessary renunciation is an effective element of moral 
discipline. There is great need to teach this truth to 
children in well-to-do families in these days; and the 
teaching by example is more effective than any other. ^ 

'"As a final practical maxim, relative to these habits of the will, 
we may, then, offer something like this : Keep the faculty of effort alive 
in youbya little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematic- 
ally ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or 



202 MORAL EDUCATION 

A further complication enters the problem of teaching 
by example where there is a difference of conviction be- 
tween two who share in the control of children. Take, for 
instance, the case where one parent, perhaps without the 
least sense of wrong-doing, practises something of which 
the other morally disapproves. What is the disapproving 
parent to do? He (it is usually she) desires to teach the 
child the highest moral standard, yet to waken conscious 
condemnation of the other parent not only involves dis- 
loyalty but injures the child. We touch here one of the 
most subtle and difficult of all problems of moral educa- 
tion — the teaching of the dangerous but indispensable 
lesson of moral toleration. The child must be led to see 
that equally earnest people may differ vitally on the serious 
questions of life, and that it is one's duty to live unswerv- 
ingly to one's own highest standard, yet cordially welcome 
the same attitude in others, even when it leads to actions 
of which one disapproves. Obviously there must be rigid 
limits to this moral toleration. Excluding those whose 
earnest conviction is merely pretense, there are actions so 
positively harmful to others that they must be repressed 
even when flowing from conviction. Yet how difficult it is 
to decide wisely upon these limits; and children need the 

two something for no other reason than that you would rather not 
do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you 
not unnerved and untrained to stand the test. Asceticism of this 
sort is Uke the insurance which a man pays on his house and goods. 
The tax does him no good at the time, and possibly may never bring 
him a return. But if the fire does come, his having paid it will be his 
salvation from ruin. So with the man who has daily inured himself 
to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial 
in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything 
rocks around him, and when his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed 
like chaff in the blast." — William James, The Principles of Psy- 
chology, vol. I, pp. 126-127. 



MORAL TEACHING BY EXAMPLE 203 

emphasis placed upon living to one's own highest standard, 
yet refraining from condemning those who are striving in 
their own different way to do the same. The true propor- 
tion is hard indeed to attain ; thus, clear as are the great 
principles of conduct, their application in practice demands 
earnest effort and constant revision in the light of growing 
experience. 

There is one phase of the teaching by example that is of 
peculiar importance in moral education. The most diffi- 
cult virtue of character to teach directly is love, just because 
it is not a virtue of conduct but of the spirit behind conduct. 
The two great commandments of love tell us, not what we 
should do, but how we should feel, that good action may 
flow ceaselessly from the right loving heart. Yet if love 
is a virtue of the spirit, it tends to wear an outer garment; 
and the behavior of love is courtesy. By courtesy I do not 
mean etiquette — that is courtesy gone to seed; but the 
natural expression of a loving heart that seeks to put others 
at theirease«and give them joy. Thus it is possible to teach 
the virtue of love by wearing habitually its garment, 
courtesy, and so to lead children from an imitation of the 
behavior of love to an initiation into its spirit. We some- 
times feel that childnen are tcto small to deserve the little 
courtesies of life: quite apart from the fact that courtesy 
should come from within and not be dictated by the condi- 
tion of the recipient, we cannot be too scrupulously cour- 
teous to children, since this is the most effective means of 
inculcating the highest virtue of character. 

It is most important that this garment of courtesy 
should be worn habitually in the life of the home. Noth- 
ing is more paradoxical than that perversity of human 
nature- which leads us to be scrupulously courteous to the 



204 MORAL EDUCATION 

stranger within our gates, while we feel that we are excusable 
for expressing all our meanness and irritation to those we 
know and love best. It is true we ought to be able to rest 
in those who love us, and not need to keep up a manner 
foreign to our spirits ; but we should see to it that the man- 
ner natural to our spirits is the unvarying courtesy that 
clothes a loving heart. We should be able to wear our 
every-day clothes at home, but they should be just as 
appropriate and beautiful in their way as any other gar- 
ments. We ought never to appear in moral undress before 
those we love. In fact, the need is to make of courtesy, 
not a garment we remove and put on for different occa- 
sions, but rather a living and harmonious body to clothe 
inseparably the loving spirit within. Yet if we cannot be 
courteous all the time, would it not be better to spend our 
weariness and irritation on the stranger within our gates, 
who comes and goes and cares very little, and save every 
element of exquisite courtesy for those whose lives are 
lifted or broken by our slight words and deeds ? Courtesy 
will transfigure the hard realities of life like a beautiful 
atmosphere giving distance and perspective. 

As we ourselves seek to wear unweariedly this garment of 
courtesy that children may feel the inspiration of love 
behind it, so we should hold them steadily to the same 
type of behavior. Especially should we insist that they 
show unvarying courtesy toward those whom they may be 
tempted to regard as inferiors. They must wear habitually 
the garment of courtesy to be initiated into the spirit of 
humanity. 

There is a still deeper phase of the teaching by example 
that is not often recognized, and that should comfort every 
earnest but discouraged teacher or parent: we teach not 



MORAL TEACHING BY EXAMPLE 205 

only by what we do, but by what we try to do even when 
we fail. It is possible, fortunately, to teach lessons above 
the level of what we are in conduct, though not higher 
than what we want to be and strive to be. The ideal we 
are struggling toward teaches above our halting and im- 
perfect action. Thus children tend to imitate not only 
our conduct but, deeper than it, the spirit that inspires our 
conduct. That is why pretense is so futile, and why every 
attempt to wear a garment of virtue merely for effect is apt 
to lead to an imitation, not of the assumed virtue, but of the 
hypocrisy that inspired its assumption, as, for instance, 
when our behavior is conventionally proper but with no 
love behind. Children pierce through what we do to 
what we mean to be and do; and the influence of the 
ideal toward which we are struggling is in the end more 
powerful than the changing accident of the day's life. 

Thus the true teaching by example is through a kind of 
contagion of the ideal that passes from soul to soul even 
when the ideal is far beyond us.^ This has always been 
the supreme force in education. It is only a student who 
can awaken the student spirit in others; and one must 
strive earnestly for noble aims to be able to touch others 
into the same kind of life. Agassiz was perhaps the 
greatest teacher of natural science our country has seen, 
and yet his judgment was wrong on certain of the most 
important problems of modern science. Wherein lay his 

' "A life whose ideal value has been perfectly estalDlished in experi- 
ence never aims to serve as model in its foi-m, but only in its essence, 
in its spirit. It is the greatest mistake to suppose that spiritual, 
human perfection can serve as a model in its form. This accounts 
for the common experience that the taking of such external manifes- 
tations of perfection as examples, instead of elevating mankind, 
checks, nay, represses, its development." — Frobbel, The EdiLcation of 
Man, translated by Hailmann, p. 12. 



206 MORAL EDUCATION 

greatness as a teacher ? Not in his knowledge, but in the 
fact that he was the leader of his students, a step in ad- 
vance of them and inspiring them to his own endeavor 
for truth. It is the same quality that shows in all great 
teachers: Socrates, Arnold, Horace Mann, St, Francis of 
Assisi, Froebel. It is not whether we arrive, but whether 
we earnestly strive, that determines our lifting power over 
our children. Thus, even though we may not dare to hope 
that our lives may be able to influence others through the 
'contagion of a great soul' that is so supreme in educa- 
tion, still in our sphere in home and school, if we are 
devoted servants of ideals that lift away from the plane 
of merely selfish life, we may hope that, even in failure, 
some of the radiance of the ideal will flow from our 
spirit and touch the children we love into sane, sweet, 
earnest moral life. 



XIX 

DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 

We have now studied the great means of moral culture — 
action and environment — in the various forms in which we 
can utiUze them. The work of these influences needs 
to be reinforced by ethical instruction. I have already 
shown how absurd it is to regard the problem of teaching 
ethics to children as coextensive with that of moral educa- 
tion, or even as the most important part of the latter; yet 
ethical instruction is a necessary part of our task. It 
should serve two aims: (1) To waken consciousness of life 
and its problems, and develop an organic view of the laws 
of life; (2) To rationalize habits already formed and give 
independent guidance and control of them. In other 
words, ethical instruction aims to furnish the individual a 
definite body of knowledge and ideas, and to organize this 
into life and make it fruitful in conduct. It will be noted 
that it is the second aim which justifies the first. To give 
a body of ethical knowledge that is not made effective in 
life may be worse than useless, since it leads to a fatal 
divorce between thought and action. To go on reasoning 
ethically without living morally is as fatal as to receive con- 
tinual emotional stimulus without expressing it in vigorous 
action; the result in both cases is dissipation of the moral 
energies and deterioration of character. Thus the element 
of ethical instruction is distinctly subordinate to moral 



208 MORAL EDUCATION 

living and must be made to serve directly the latter. The 
chief function of ethical instruction, therefore, will be to 
bring clearly into consciousness principles that have already 
been built into character, thus transforming the basis of 
moral habit into a clear-sighted, independent morality. 

There are two different methods by which we may under- 
take this work of ethical instruction. We may study 
directly the problems and laws of ethics with our children ; 
or we may utilize the material furnished by history, litera- 
ture and other subjects of study, and do our ethical teaching 
by indirection. Probably we shall find some combination 
of the two methods most helpful, meantime let us consider 
them in turn. 

The direct ethical instruction of children must be guided 
by certain definite principles and conform to some rigid 
restrictions: 

1. It is indispensable to avoid 'moralizing.' Didactic 
preaching ever has small effect upon character; and per- 
haps children resent it even more than we do. "Be good, 
and you will be happy:" How true (sometimes), and 
how futile to say it! Probably no one ever was made 
good by the reiteration of such moral commonplace. 
I have puzzled much over the question why moralizing 
is so bad as well as ineffective. I think it must be be- 
cause its obvious generalities get more and more detached 
from experience, till in the end they become almost hypo- 
critical, since they are repeated with no real thought 
behind them.* 

2. Therefore our teaching must take immediate hold of 

' "Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre 
people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally 
console them in their mediocrity." — Robeiit Louis Stevenson, 
Crabbed Age and Youth, in Virginihus Puerisque, pp. 81-82. 



DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 209 

the child's experience. It is always possible to accomplish 
this, since all the great principles of human living are pres- 
ent in the child's world. While certain phases of later 
experience cannot come to children, the laws of happy and 
helpful living are as completely exemplified in the child's 
world as in our own. Earnest effort, self-control, gener- 
osity, fidelity: the child needs these as we need them, and 
the same results follow them in both cases. Thus v/e can 
give ethical instruction a real meaning to the child only by 
beginning where he is and bringing him to see the implica- 
tions of the experience through which he is passing. 

3. At the same time the teaching must be generic, that is, 
the child must recognize the principle behind the concrete 
case. If we lose the law in its application, the aim of our 
instruction is defeated. We want the children to realize, 
not merely that it is mean for this particular child to carry 
tales to the teacher about his classmates, but that tale- 
bearing is mean; not only that it was wrong for this other 
child to tell his mother a lie, but that lying is ugly and 
bad. Beginning with the concrete act and making our 
teaching take hold of the child's experience, we must 
nevertheless bring him to a clear recognition of the law 
that applies to the multitude of cases. 

4. To escape the semi-hypocrisy of didactic moralizing 
it is not only necessary that the teaching should relate itself 
to the child's experience, it is also indispensable that the 
teacher should be true. The same sincerity or moral 
reality which we found was the necessary basis of helpful 
government is needed for our intellectual teaching of the 
child. The curse of ethics in all ages has been the tend- 
ency of ethical teachers to impart what they considered 
morally useful, instead of what at bottom they believed 



210 MORAL EDUCATION 

to be true. If a high form of expediency, this is expediency 
nevertheless, and as debauching as that curse always is. 
Its first result in this form is to destroy the teacher's power 
to discern the truth, its second is to produce a revolt from 
the teaching in the learner. 

A flagrant illustration of this error has appeared re- 
cently in the making of text-books in physiology to suit the 
opinions of a portion of the population, and then securing 
the legal enforcement of this teaching as science. In some 
instances public school teachers are required to give to 
their pupils, as proved truth, statements regarding the 
effects of beer, wine and tobacco which are still in debate 
among scientific experts. Well-intentioned as the people 
are who have secured such legislation, its effect is simply 
vicious, defeating the very aim they have in view. Omit- 
ting the children of parents whose views coincide with the 
teaching, the child is at first shocked, and then disgusted, 
as he finds his parents and others whom he respects 
regard the instruction he has received in school as untrue. 
If he escapes this fate he is made into the moral prig who 
attempts to reform his parents before he has any ability 
to pass judgment on their conduct. Usually the final 
result intellectually is to dull the child's instinct for truth 
and confuse his moral sense, while practically he fre- 
quently reacts against the teaching and so goes to a disas- 
trous extreme before he learns that the path of indulgence 
is not the path of life.^ I do not mean to say that a teacher 

* Compare President Eliot in More Money for the Public SciiookS, 
pp. 27-28: 

"In an attempt to use the schools as a means of promoting total 
abstinence from intoxicating drinks a grave injury has been done to 
the teaching of all the sciences in the schools; because many state- 
nients about alcohol, which are not known to be true, and which are 



DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 211 

should never teach a conviction which others reject : often 
it is his duty to do just that; I do insist that he should 
always distinguish what is, from what he believes. 
Science — exact and organized knowledge — should be taught 
as science; opinion and belief, even when rising to lofty 
conviction, must be recognized as such and never confused 
with undoubted fact. With the public schools we may 
go farther than this and say that the schools supported by 
all the people should never be used for any kind of sec- 
tarian propagandism, whether prosecuted in the name of 
morals or religion. 

The illustration I have used is but one of many that are 
available; it is the general principle I wish to emphasize. 
We dare never tamper with objective facts for the sake of 
anticipated ethical results : if we do, we defeat our aim in 
every instance. Unvarying sincerity in facing the facts 
and laws of life is the necessary basis of all helpful 
ethical instruction of children — or adults. 

5. While we must thus be true in our teaching, it is 
necessary to adapt it to the period of development of the 



apparently contradicted by the common observation of the children 
themselves, have been forced into the schools. This mode of com- 
batting the tendency to use alcoholic drinks has been devised and 
executed by conscientious women; yet it would be hard to imagine 
a less intelligent mode. The public schools ought to have made it 
impossible that benevolence and devotion should be so misdirected." 
See the digest of Laws Relating to Temperance instruction in 
the Report of the Commissioner of Education for igo2, vol. I, pp. 315- 
338. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903. Compare 
further the various articles and reports on Temperance Instruction, 
in the Report of the Commissioner of Education for igoo~igoi, vol. I, 
pp. 1027-1050. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1902. 
The article by Superintendent Ferguson (pp. 1032-1040, reprinted 
from the Educational Review, March, 1902) gives examples of the 
false and questionable statements in the 'indorsed' text-books oa 
physiology. 



212 MORAL EDUCATION 

child. That is, we should conform to the same principle 
in instruction which we obey in government and discipline. 
As simple obedience to personal authority precedes any 
conscious response to law, so the child can be taught in- 
tellectually the reason and meaning of the one type of 
virtue before the other. Similarly, when the instinct of 
personal possession strongly awakens within the child, the 
time has come when he can be taught respect for the 
property of others. To take a larger illustration: the 
self-afErming tendencies of character appear before that 
of self-sacrifice. Children are strong egoists; and while 
this egoism needs to be checked and corrected, they can 
understand the virtues of heroism, self-reliance, endur- 
ance, effort, long before they can appreciate the sublimity 
of forgiveness and the beauty of non-resistance. 

There is no question here of teaching a false standard 
and then replacing it by a true one : nothing could be more 
disastrous than that. I have shown in an earlier chapter 
that a standard or ideal which is the highest that can be 
recognized upon a certain plane of development is abso- 
lutely binding upon that plane. The hills are just as real 
as the mountains, and heroism is as much a virtue as self- 
sacrifice. The principle for which I am contending is but 
a more thorough-going application of the law that our 
teaching must take hold of the child's concrete experience. 
Since the function of our instruction is to illuminate what 
the child is living, the teaching must rise to new problems 
and larger horizons as the child grows into them. 

It is evident, then, how futile must be the attempt to 
organize the subject-matter of ethics according to a purely 
logical system of duties and feed this to the child. We 
have seen that ethics has been nearly the last of the sciences 



DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 213 

to receive the impulse of the modern spirit, and therefore 
this false method has survived more generally in ethics 
than in any other field. Few indeed are the text-books, 
designed for the ethical instruction of children, which 
escape the fault of being based entirely upon a logical 
analysis of the subject-matter, instead of upon an appre- 
ciative recognition of the process of growth in the child. 

6. Finally, the work of ethical instruction is incomplete 
until the individual reaches a comprehensive view of the 
whole field of the laws of life. While the teaching must 
follow his experience and conform to the steps of his devel- 
opment, sound living demands an organic view of the 
whole of life and its problems. Thus, before we are done, 
we must see to it that each child has attained this com- 
pleteness of view. 

Obviously it is no easy task to teach ethics to children 
and obey these six hard conditions. Shall we help our- 
selves by the use of a text-book we can put into the hands 
of the child ? Were an ideal text-book in existence this 
question would be less difficult; but we have seen that 
those available are based on a wrong principle. Better 
than anything in English are certain of the French man- 
uals prepared for use in the state schools.^ While intro- 
ducing much concrete matter and adapting their material 
somewhat to the stages of the child's development, they still 
show in greater or less degree the fault mentioned. The 
best books in English, of which Professor Adler's Moral 



I Compare :MeziJ;res, Education morale, et Instruction Civique 
d, V usage des Ecoles 'mimaires; Lia.rd, Morale et Enseignement Civ- 
ique. d, I'usage des Ecoles primaires; Laloi, L'Ann^e Pr^paratoire 
d' Instruction Morale et d' Instruction Civique, and La Premiere 
Annee d' Instruction Morale et Civique. 



214 MORAL EDUCATION 

Instruction of Children stands first, are for teachers rather 
than children, even wlien going beyond the outHning of 
principles to the presentation of a considerable body of 
concrete material for instruction, as Professor Adler does.^ 
Even were the ideal text-book available there would be 
some question as to its use. If we must begin where the 
children are and follow the lead of their experiences day by 
day, we can follow no prearranged logical series of lessons. 
In geography or other aspects of nature-study it is possible 
to plan what the experience of the child shall be; but we 
cannot determine his ethical experience, and only in the 
most general way can we foresee what it will be. Thus 
here, even more than in other subjects of study, the better 
the teacher, the less need is there for a text-book, and the 
greater is the value of working independently of such a 
guide. Every teacher knows how much easier it is, in 
history for example, to follow the outline of a text-book 
or give a formal lecture, than to put books aside, face a 
class on one's feet, follow the suggestions that come from 
the questions and thoughts of the pupils, and yet in the end 
have covered the ground of the lesson. Nevertheless 
every wise teacher knows well how much more effective the 
second method is than the first. It is most of all in ethics 
that we need to apply this wiser method, since we cannot 
assign ethical experience, but must deal with what life 
brings forth. Therefore the need of wise, well-trained 
teachers is greatest just in the field of ethical instruction 

> Among representative text-books a^■ailable in English for the 
direct ethical instruction of children are the following: 

J. N. Larned, Primer of Right and Wrong; C. C. Everett, Ethics 
for Young People; Oilman and Jackson, Conduct as a Fine Art (in- 
tended rather for teachers than to be put directly into the hands 
of the pupils) ; W. J. Shearer, Morals and Manners. 



DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 215 

where, hitherto, least attention has been given to their 
preparation. 

Thus for a capable teacher the best method of ethical 
instruction will be talks with the children concerning 
the ethical laws and problems into contact with which 
their experience brings them, using the best books as 
guides to the teacher rather than as texts to be put into 
the hands of the children. I have used the word teacher 
throughout because in giving ethical instruction the parent 
as well is fulfilling the teacher's ofiice. The parent must, 
no less than the school teacher, obey the six conditioning 
principles I have laid down; but in the home it is possible 
to go further than in the school in uniting the instruction 
to the child's immediate experience. The texts for the 
parent are the situations and problems that come up in 
such numbers daily. The child's quarrel, the room left 
untidy, the inexact statement of what has happened, the 
opportunity for generosity or self-denial : these and count- 
less similar events in the child's experience furnish the best 
of opportunities to drive home the ethical lesson. While a 
moral problem is on, its treatment falls under the head of 
discipline ; but when it is settled and the child can see it in 
some perspective, he needs to recognize intellectually the 
principle and lesson involved. Perhaps half the good of 
discipline is often lost because parents will not take the 
further time thus to bring home to the child's intellect the 
lesson of the experience through which he has passed. 
Parents are over busied, and protest that their hands are 
more than filled with the work of careful discipline. They 
need to see that the time given to the further task of ethical 
instruction associated with the child's concrete experience 
will not only double the value of the discipline to the 



216 MORAL EDUCATION 

child, but will greatly lighten the work of discipline in 
situations arising afterward. 

The average parent will be much more sure to carry out 
his part in the work of ethical instruction if he assigns 
some regular time daily for it. If he trusts merely to the 
chance conversation with his children many of the best 
opportunities for ethical instruction will be lost. Perhaps 
the twilight or evening hour is the best of the day to use for 
such a purpose. In that hour the work and play of the 
day draw av/ay; it is not difficult to see the day's experi- 
ences with calmer spirit and in wider relation; the drawing 
down of the night brings to everyone a certain quiet and 
meditative solemnity. Thus if the parent can consecrate 
even a few minutes each evening to quiet talks with his 
children, sometimes with all together, sometimes with each 
alone, over the events and actions of the day, the work of 
ethical instruction will grow apace and the results at the 
end of a year will amaze one who has not previously tried 
the plan. I do not mean that the larger part of the time a 
parent has for companionship with his children should be 
thus devoted to ethical instruction: that would be fatal, 
since it would tend to put the parent on another plane than 
the child, thus defeating the great ends of our comradeship 
with them. Whether or not a specific time is thus dedi- 
cated for ethical instruction, no parent should ever let a 
critical moral experience pass into the child's dim yester- 
days without seeing to it that the meaning of the experience 
has been brought home clearly to the intellect of the child. 

The relation of the parent to the child may always be 
more intimate than that of the teacher dealing with groups 
of children, and it is usually unwise to attempt in the school 
so close association of the ethical teaching with the con- 



DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 21? 

Crete experience of the individual child as is possible in the 
home. The private school teacher, especially with board- 
ing pupils, may do this more than the public school teacher; 
and in so far as any teacher has time and opportunity to 
talk quietly with the individual child he may bring home 
the lesson of a particular experience just as is possible in 
the home. To attempt this in teaching a group of children, 
however, may mean to focus undue attention on the indi- 
vidual most concerned and thus partly to defeat the aim of 
the teaching. Moreover, the school may obviously at- 
tempt a more complete and systematic plan of instruction 
than will be usual in the home. Therefore, in the school, 
it is more necessary to hold regular talks with the group 
of children. There is still something to be said against 
assigning set periods for such work. If we do so there is 
danger that the instruction may become too formal and 
lose its living quahty. Moreover, it is peculiarly true in 
ethics that much of the best instruction comes by the way. 
Since, as we have seen, every fact and experience has its 
ethical implications, the events of school life and the les- 
sons in its ordinary course furnish more opportunities 
than we can utilize for bringing home the great ethical 
lessons to the child, without in the least falling into the vice 
of moralizing. We shall see in the following chapters 
how precious are these opportunities for ethical teaching 
by indirection, and a good part of our best results will 
come through utilizing them. 

Nevertheless, there are strong reasons in favor of assign- 
ing a definite period for direct ethical instruction. If we 
do not the pressure of school work tends, for the ordinary 
teacher, to crowd out the ethical element, and the results 
of the teaching by indirection, if priceless, are apt to be 



218 MORAL EDUCATION 

incomplete, failing to give that comprehensiveness of view 
we have found to be so necessary. Moreover, children 
love directness and it is a mistake to go beating about the 
bush. Indeed, next to insincere moralizing, grown people 
or children alike resent most of all being tricked into listen- 
ing to ethical instruction in the guise of something else. It 
is again the mistake of * sugar-coating' which we found 
defeated the end of discipline. Since ethical problems 
are more deeply interesting than any others, the ethical 
element can stand alone and does not need adventitious 
adornment. Thus we resent the moral tacked on to the 
novel or poem, and are not drawn to the minister's Sunday 
evening picture show, unless it be a sincere use of art, 
bringing home its human, and therefore ethical, meaning. 
On the whole, then, in addition to all the ethical in- 
struction which can come through the ordinary work in 
history, literature and other subjects, I believe it is wise 
to assign certain periods, say twenty minutes daily, or a 
half-hour three times a week, for talks by the teacher with 
the school, on the ethical questions in which the children 
are interested and which are related to their experience. 
The teacher must guard constantly against formalism, 
and keep before him the fact that these discussions furnish 
but a fragment of the ethical instruction that should be 
given. He must also realize constantly that the suggestions 
and thoughts which he can succeed in getting spontaneously 
from the pupils are worth more than the best ethical solu- 
tions he can give them. The value of the work will come 
only as the children are actively thinking, for the object is 
not to give them ready-made solutions to the problems of 
life, or impose certain maxims and precepts upon them, 
but to develop the habit of thoughtfully deliberating upon 



DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 219 

moral questions, and awaken a recognition of the great 
principles implicit in human life. 

On the other hand, we must beware of making children 
moral casuists. The inexperienced mind loves to try its 
strength in playing with those subtle problems where the 
intellect with equal facility can attain a solution in either 
direction. That there is something in such detached rea- 
soning strongly appealing to immature minds is evident 
from all early history of philosophy, especially among the 
Greeks. It was this tendency of the unfledged intellect to 
casuistry Plato perceived in the pupils of the sophists, 
leading him to the view that philosophy should not be 
studied by the young, and that experience and hard science 
(mathematics in his thought) should alone qualify for ad- 
mission to her portals.^ Plato was entirely right: philos- 
ophy should follow and not precede experience. Philos- 
ophy does not furnish positive knowledge; its function is to 
classify and organize what has already been learned 
through experience or positive science. 

It is the ignoring of this principle that makes so many 
university courses in ethics and philosophy disintegrating 
to the character of the student and paralyzing to his moral 
action. He studies, without the balance of large experi- 
ence or hard science, system after system, each exclusive 
of all the rest. Each seems satisfying while he is within it, 



' Compare Plato's Republic, Jowett's translation, third edition, 
p. 243: 

"There is danger lest they should taste the dear delight [of dia- 
lectic] too early; for youngsters, as you may have observed, when 
they first get the taste in their mouths, argue for amusement, and 
are always contradicting and refuting others in imitation of those 
who refute them; like puppy-dogs, they rejoice in pulling and tearing 
at all who come near them." 



220 MORAL EDUCATION 

but rarely does any one stand out as finally absolute.^ 
Thus since every idea and course of action may have its 
theoretic justification, he finds it more and more difficult to 
choose any one. "Thought expands, but lames; action 
animates, but narrows" said Goethe.^ To the immature 
neophyte in philosophy action seems terribly intolerant, 
since it affirms but one idea out of the multitude the 
reason recognizes as possible. Yet the antinomies of the 
intellect can be solved only in practice. Life is the mar- 
velous solvent that fuses in its mystic fluid, elements 
which to the intellect seem irreconcilably opposed. To 
escape the confusion and negation which result from 
processes of detached thinking, through which almost 
anything can be made to seem true and right, we choose 
in action the one thing we believe to be best. 

Thus we must return to our initial thought in this dis- 
cussion: all ethical instruction must be carefully subor- 
dinated to moral action and made directly contributory to 
the latter. Only thus can it be helpful, or indeed safe, 
since only so can we avoid the vice of moral casuistry, 
alluring in proportion to the immaturity of the learner's 
mind. There is obviously a fine balance to be attained 
here: the reason is to be cultivated and trained, yet held 
to its regular function and never allowed to become a 
means of moral confusion. The child must be brought to 
recognize clearly those great underlying principles of happy 
and helpful conduct upon which we may all agree without 
moral casuistry. The teacher must, therefore, choose the 
subjects for these ethical discussions with direct reference 

' If one system does seem absolute to the immature student he is 
apt to fa,ll into the opposite error and become a slavish adherent of it. 

' Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Carlyle's translation, vol. II, 
chapter V, p. 126. 



DIRECT ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 221 

to the opportunities of the children in moral action. Many 
of the talks may well deal with those questions of school 
organization and government discussed in chapters XIII 
and XIV; and thus not only contribute to the order of the 
little society, but aid greatly in developing the independ- 
ent, self-directing type of moral action. Further, the 
incidents, laws and characters studied in the ordinary 
work of the school in literature, history and natural 
science furnish an inexhaustible fund of material for ex- 
tending and vitalizing these ethical talks. 

To carry out such a program of direct ethical instruction 
as I have outlined demands wisdom, time and thought on 
the part of parents and teachers. It is the old story: 
"nothing great without effort;" in proportion to the good 
that may come from the work is the severity of its demand 
in preparation. If, as I have shown, it is undesirable to 
follow the logical outline of the ethical subject-matter in 
the discussions with children, it is the more necessary that 
the parent or teacher should have such a complete logical 
organization of the material in the background of his own 
consciousness. He must not only know what he may hope 
to accomplish and have a clear conception of the method 
by which he should set about it, he must have come to 
terms with the universe intellectually and have formulated 
in some measure a conscious philosophy of life. He must 
see intellectually the great ends of human conduct, the 
path by which those ends may be attained, and the laws 
that condition us in following the path. That the thought 
and study, necessary to our preparation for the ethical 
teaching of our children, are illuminating and educative to 
ourselves in the highest degree, is another truth, aside 
from our problem, though greatly comforting. 



XX 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH OTHER 
SUBJECTS: HISTORY 

I HAVE outlined the most direct form of ethical instruc- 
tion, that which is given by talks with children in home and 
school. The work thus done must be supplemented and 
its results multiplied by the use of other subjects of study. 
Indeed, the vitality of our instruction will depend mainly 
upon our wise use of these less direct sources. Beyond 
the moral discipline which comes from doing intellectual 
tasks honestly and accurately, almost every subject of 
study has some ethical implications. Take, for instance, 
so non-moral a subject as mathematics : the ideal accuracy 
of its statements and the absolute universality with which 
its laws may be applied tend insensibly to cultivate rever- 
ence for truth and appreciation of the unity of law. Much 
broader is the ethical instruction resulting from the study 
of nature. Whether as organized science, or as the sim- 
pler, more general study possible to childhood, it is this 
phase of our school program that furnishes our best oppor- 
tunity to teach an intellectual recognition of law and a 
reverence for law. Thus the study of nature accomplishes 
for the intellect in ethical instruction exactly what we 
found active contact with nature did for the cultivation of 
the habit of obedience. It is true, higher laws appear in 
human life than we can discover in nature, and the prin- 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY 223 

ciples that govern alike man and beast may be trans- 
figured in their appHcation to the actions of human beings; 
nevertheless, the great, simple conditions of existence are 
revealed in their most direct and impressive form in nature. 
The necessity for constant struggle, the sure setting in of 
degeneration the moment positive effort ceases, the re- 
morseless demand of obedience to the order of the universe, 
the growth and harmony that result from such obedience, 
the kinship of all living beings and the unity in the moral 
problems of life : these ethical lessons can be driven home 
through the study of nature as in no other way. To prove 
this, one need but point to the vastly wider acceptance of 
these teachings among adults today as a direct result 
of modern physical science. 

In teaching nature to children it is as necessary to avoid 
moralizing as in other forms of ethical instruction. Draw- 
ing moral and intellectual lessons from nature in the old 
Sandford and Merton^ style is not desirable, though 
there are many worse books than Sandford and Merton. 
The need is to waken children to a recognition of reality, 
that is, of fact and law as these appear in the nature 
world. If we can bring children to understand the inex- 
orable sequence and appreciate the regular harmony of 
nature no further sermon need be added. 

Clearly, only the more simple and universal laws govern- 
ing human life appear in the study of nature. The highest 
laws, those most important in the human field, can be dis- 
covered only by studying that field. Therefore it is a 
grave error to depend solely upon nature for ethical 

' See Thomas Day, The History of Sandford and Merton — "a book 
replete with information and of unimpeachable morality," as it is 
characterized in the preliminary sketch of the life of Thomas Day. 



224 MORAL EDUCATION 

instruction. Her morality is merely prudential. She sanc- 
tions absolute conformity to the accident, as well as the 
permanent elements, of environment, — conformity gained 
through every kind of deceit. If in brute motherhood she 
rises above the coarsely egoistic plane, this is only through 
blind instinct. Conscious love, justice and self-sacrifice, 
the willingness to stand heroically for principle and be out 
of harmony with the accident of environment for the sake 
of obedience to underlying law, the morality that is not 
merely prudential but springs in obedience to lofty, inte- 
grating aims: these phases of moral life appear only in 
humanity. Thus ethically speaking, "the chief study of 
mankind" must always be "man;" and for the purposes 
of ethical instruction, nothing else can approach in value 
the expressions of human life. Indeed, the neglect of the 
humanities, — as the studies dealing with man's thought 
and action, rather than rhetoric and the languages, should 
be called, — and the great development of physical science 
during the last fifty years, are partly responsible for the 
hard materialistic temper and the adhesion to the prin- 
ciple of brute struggle and the survival of the materially 
powerful, which mark certain aspects of our civilization. 

Thus in teaching children we should err gravely if we 
utilized nature as the main source of material for indirect 
ethical instruction. It is the expressions of human life we 
must use chiefly; and two subjects in the curriculum below 
the high school are especially available. These arc- 
history and literature; and we shall find them singularly 
complementary to each other for our purpose. With the 
modern expansion of the course of study, other expressions 
of man's life have been admitted, as material from paint- 
ing, sculpture and music, social and economic science. 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY 225 

History and literature, however, are almost always avail- 
able throughout the curriculum, and they of all humanistic 
subjects alone are so; thus they must furnish the main 
opportunity for the study of human life. Moreover, as 
they show fully the ethical value of all humanistic 
studies, we may well focus our discussion upon them. 

History is the record of what men have done. It may 
be interpreted so broadly as to include all expressions of the 
human spirit, but usually we limit it to the deeds of men 
in private and public life and the development of political 
institutions. Thus interpreted let us consider the different 
aspects in which history is of value for ethical instruction 
and moral culture. 

1. History shows the moral law in action. There are no 
accidents in the rise and fall of nations, even if we take 
extreme cases where a people seems to suffer from the 
greed of others, as in the rise of Napoleon or the partition 
of Poland. Always the victim cooperates in his doom. 
In all the past every element of manhood, self-control, 
heroism, fidelity has made for life; and every element of 
brutal selfishness, capricious sensuality, cowardly expe- 
diency has made for death. We do not need to preach 
about history to bring home its moral teachings. To 
draw pleasant, little, ^sop morals from the great move- 
ments of the past — the ebb and flow of the tides of life — 
would be to degrade the noble material we are studying, 
like making a lion do petty tricks in a cage.^ The need is 

' "No practical application need be added, no moral brought out; 
the related incident of life, in itself, in whatever form it may appear, 
in its causes and consequences, makes a deeper impression than any 
added words could do i for who can know the needs of the wholly 
opened soul, of stimulated, wholly self-conscious life." — FboebeIj, 
The Education of Man, Hailmann's translation, p. 308, 



226 MORAL EDUCATION 

that the student should appreciate the past and recognize 
the laws that prevail in it. Surely history teaches its own 
ethical lessons to every one who sees its facts and laws. 
The steady advance of Rome while resting on an heroic 
type of manhood and womanhood, the rapid disintegration 
of her empire with the rotting of personal character, the 
persistence of tiny, freedom-loving Switzerland in the lap 
of the empires of Europe, the flowering of English litera- 
ture with the unifying of English sentiment and patriotism 
in the days of Elizabeth, the springing of America from 
the devotion of a few small groups of earnest men and 
women: surely we do not need to moralize about these 
facts to give them an ethical value. The student needs 
only to see them in relation to law; and to seek to abstract 
the implicit moral meaning and set it apart as a 'lesson' 
is like cutting up a man to find his soul: with Descartes 
we might isolate the pineal gland; but the soul — 1 

2. Besides the ethical instruction that comes from per- 
ceiving the laws ruling in past life, history contains innu- 
merable heroic incidents which show the principles of noble 
living in concrete form. Not only do these teach children 
the meaning of virtue in the most impressive way, they 
present examples for imitation and inspire the learner to 
follow. The behavior of Socrates before his judges or of 
Giordano Bruno at the stake, the conduct of the Lacedae- 
monians at Thermopylae or of the American farmers at 
Bunker Hill, Sir Philip Sydney dying, offering the cup of 
water to the wounded soldier beside him, or Sir Thomas 
More going to his death for the sake of conscience: inci- 
dents like these reveal the depth of the moral life of man- 
kind as flashes of lightning illuminate a dark forest at 
night. They not only show what is noble action, but 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY 227 

touch US with the contagion of heroic deeds, thus making 
for moral culture as well as ethical instruction. 

3. Heroic incidents are but fragments in the life of man 
or nation; more significant than they in moral value are 
the great personalities of history, the men and women in 
whom the tendencies of the past find their highest expres- 
sion. Without agreeing with Carlyle that history is the 
work of great men, certainly we must recognize that all 
movements of humanity find their expression only through 
the medium of personality. After all, history is made of 
the entire sum of the deeds of the countless men and 
women; and among them all, the great individuals, rising 
on the waves of popular tendency and in turn molding 
the multitude who lift them, are the best keys to the life 
of the past. 

Among these great individuals are many who serve in a 
greater or less degree as types of the moral ideal, thus giv- 
ing concrete form to our conception of noble living, and 
inspiring imitation — the true imitation of the spirit, not 
the form, of lofty action — far more powerfully than can 
single incidents. Indeed, the power of great personalities 
in history to touch the child with that marvelous con- 
tagion of the spirit, is surpassed only by the personal 
influence of the individuals with whom the child is 
immediately associated.* 

4. It is not only the good men and women who instruct 
us ethically, however. In the lives of those who have done 
much evil, moral laws are no less clearly expressed. There 
is widespread misunderstanding in regard to teaching by 

* See a suggestive article on The Use of Biography in Religious 
Instruction, by Professor F. M. McMurry, in Principles of Religious 
Education, by N, M, Butlee, et al., pp. 193-211. 



228 MORAL EDUCATION 

example. It is said that we should never teach by base 
examples. The comparison with expression in language 
is cited; and as children acquire good speech by hearing 
nothing else, so it is said they should come into contact 
only with examples of good conduct. The analogy holds 
up to a certain point, but is misleading unless carefully 
interpreted. It is true, the problem of instruction in the 
mother tongue is much lightened if young children hear 
only good language; and so our moral problem is greatly 
simplified if the people, young and old, associated with 
children, are positively good. On the other hand, when an 
individual arrives at the age when it is possible for him 
to understand the principles of language theoretically, 
those principles will explain at once good and bad usage 
for him, and the correct and false syntax will be defined, 
if not in terms of each other, at least in relation to each 
other. So in the moral world the tree of knowledge is one 
of knowledge of good and evil. An intellectual conception 
of either will involve a conception of the other, since they 
limit each other. Thus the law is revealed as clearly in its 
violation as in an act of obedience to it. When evil is por- 
trayed in its native ugliness and hideous consequences it is 
instructive to the intellect without being attractive to the 
sensibility. It is only when evil is dressed out in an ad- 
ventitious garb of false beauty that it becomes seductive, 
because misleading to the emotions. Thus the student can 
safely consider the evil deeds and characters of the past 
if he considers them only in the proportion they sustain to 
the good, and if they are seen in their true relation to the 
whole of life. In so far as their place is exaggerated or the 
perception of that relation is lost will they become danger- 
ous. Herbart understood this better than most educa- 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY 229 

tional philosophers, as is evidenced in the following pas- 
sage from his Science of Education (Felkin's translation, 
p. 88): 

" Show the bad to children plainly, but not as an object of 
desire, and they will recognize that it is bad. Interrupt a 
narrative with moral precepts, and they will find you a 
wearisome narrator. Relate only what is good, and they 
will feel it monotonous, and the mere charm of variety will 
make the bad welcome." 

Returning to the thought later in the same treatise Her- 
bart wisely applies the principle to the relation of the youth 
to his contemporaries (p. 227) : 

"How ever extreme the necessity may be that a youth 
should never become familiar with the bad, protection of 
moral feeling need not be carried so far (at least not con- 
tinued so long) as to make youths amazed at men as they 
are. Bad company is certainly infectious, and almost as 
much so is a pleasing lingering of the imagination on at- 
tractive representations of the bad. But to have known 
men in early life, in all their many varieties, ensures an 
early exercise of moral judgment, as well as a valuable 
security against dangerous surprises. And vivid repre- 
sentations of those that were, give doubtless the readiest 
preparation for the observation of those that are, only the 
past must be sufficiently illuminated, so that its men may 
appear men like ourselves, and not beings of another 
species." 

It should be noted, however, that humanity is not made 
up of characters that are entirely good or bad; on the con- 
trary, the majority of human beings are of mingled char- 
acter, showing good and evil together. The element of 
evil mixed up with the good is instructive just as in a 



230 MORAL EDUCATION 

character typically bad. Nevertheless, if evil reveals the 
laws governing life hardly less instructively than good, 
it is the positively good life, or element of life, that alone 
exercises the inspiring influence upon us. 

5. There is one aspect of this positive moral influence 
that is particularly important, namely, the cultivation of 
reverence for moral leadership, that is, an appreciation 
of the character and service of those men who have been 
not merely great, but who have dedicated themselves to 
the service of humanity. This spirit is in a democracy 
at once most necessary and most difficult to cultivate. 
Democracies are notoriously fickle and usually irreverent. 
With a low admiration for men who succeed, merely 
because they succeed, without asking how they won power 
or for what ends they use it, democracies show a jealousy 
of the true moral leaders because such men rebuke us by 
the character of their lives. In the end the people come 
to recognize the true servant of humanity. Already we 
know the place of Washington and Lincoln; but in their 
day what misunderstanding, calumny and abuse they had 
to endure. Yet it is just in free societies that moral leader- 
ship is most necessary, otherwise the demagogue and 
selfish time-server can render futile or even destroy the 
most cherished institutions. Thus in any democracy, 
the opportunity the study of history gives for cultivating 
reverence for moral leadership is of the highest signifi- 
cance in developing the type of character necessary for 
the stability and progress of free institutions. 

6. Closely akin to this moral result is the value of 
national history in cultivating true patriotism. One 
hesitates to use the word patriotism since, like that other 
good word, love, it is used for so many wrong attitudes 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY 231 

that one must define it anew. True patriotism does not 
mean enthusiastic speeches and shouting when the soldiers 
come home. It does not 'go with the country' under 
the inspiration of the mob's passion or the popular hero's 
guidance, without asking whether the country is right or 
wrong. It is as ready to weep over a national crime as to 
exult in national heroism, to rebuke the passion of the 
mob or the selfishness of the demagogue as to move with 
the people when 'the voice of the people' is indeed 'the 
voice of God.' It is sober, quiet, thoughtful, including 
not only love of country, but an appreciation of the ideals 
for which the nation stands, and an understanding of the 
measure of success and failure in realizing those ideals 
hitherto. Such patriotism is more necessary in times of 
peace than in times of war; for in war-time everyone's 
pulses are stirred with the need of the nation, but in times 
of peace, when the high call rings less clear and the pres- 
sure of private interests is intense, then indeed the spirit 
of unselfish public service is most needed. 

Such patriotism is cultivated not by talking about it 
or urging it upon children, but by bringing the child into 
appreciative contact with the instructive and uplifting 
expressions of the national spirit and ideal. Among 
these, the great characters and deeds of the nation's past 
are of first importance. 

7. There is a nobler spirit than patriotism, great and 
good as that is. As the history of the national spirit in 
all its expressions, whether in the movements of the 
people or the lives of men and women, is our best means 
of cultivating true patriotism, so the history of the human 
spirit, interpreted in the same broad way, is our oppor- 
tunity to cultivate that larger cosmopolitan and human- 



232 MORAL EDUCATION 

itarian spirit so much needed for the next movement in 
the life of mankind. We in America, especially, if we 
are to fulfill our mission, with no loss of love for our 
country, need to rise to the true conception of human 
brotherhood, recognizing that there can be no good for 
one nation, any more than for one individual, that is not 
in harmony with the good of all. As the national history 
is a great means for cultivating true patriotism, so the 
larger history of the human spirit, incarnated in the men 
and deeds of many nations, is one avenue through which 
we may develop the true humanitarian attitude. One 
who has followed the enthusiastic awakening of Germany, 
listening to the call of Fichte and the stirring songs of 
Schiller, will recognize the unity of German life and 
aspirations with deep elements of our own. One who 
has wandered through Italy with Dante, or accompanied 
Giordano Bruno on his world-pilgrimage and heard his 
ringing words at the stake, who has listened to the teach- 
ing of sweet Saint Francis and the terrible prophecies of 
the dark Florentine patriot, Savonarola, can hardly despise 
the poor Italian who lands upon our shores, but will love 
him for what he might have been. 

To make history morally educative in the different ways 
I have outlined, it is essential that the student should come 
to have a realizing sense of the past. Every teacher 
knows how difficult it is to awaken this. Often the char- 
acters of history are to us dim phantoms moving across 
a white mist and the great deeds of the past are no more 
real and human than the faint figures in half-forgotten 
dreams. If the laws that rule in history are to teach 
their ethical lesson, if the great characters are to lift, 
inspire and instruct us as they may, we must appreciate 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY 233 

the past as alive, realizing that every recorded deed 
sprang from human beings like ourselves, moved by the 
same hopes, aspirations and fears, thwarted by the same 
weaknesses and failures. Herein is the worth, in the 
hands of a wise teacher, of all the little and great ex- 
pressions and associations of personality. A portrait, a 
photograph of some historic place, a letter or fragment 
of the hero's diary, even a relic, as the sword of Washing- 
ton or the tree under which he stood, will at times sud- 
denly transfigure the past and give its dim phantoms 
pulsating life, one with our own. It is then, as Lowell 
says, that 

"The statue shrined and still 

In that gray minster-front we call the Past, 

Feels in its frozen veins our pulses thrill, 

Breathes living air and mocks at Death's deceit. 

It warms, it stirs, comes down to us at last. 

Its features human with familiar light, 

A man, beyond the historian's art to kill. 

Or sculptor's to efface with patient chisel-blight."^ 

Thus we come to see that all great movements of history 
are resolvable into elements of which the unit is the indi- 
vidual life. So the chapters of the past are read in terms 
of the persons who make them up, and its teaching is 
brought home to us as individual human beings. 

There is one other important need if history is to fulfill 
its function in relation to moral culture. We must 
utilize the subject more widely and interpret it more 
broadly than is done today. It is unfortunate that 
history is so often limited to the record of wars and political 

* Under the Old Elm, canto II, stanza II. 



234 MORAL EDUCATION 

changes. These are important expressions of the human 
spirit, but there are many others at least equally important 
if history is to interpret life in relation to law and bring 
the student into contact with the great personalities in the 
past. We must not only deal much more with biography, 
especially in the earlier period of education, but with the 
biography of leaders in other fields besides war and states- 
manship. Since one moral function of the study of the 
great lives of the past is to inspire children with lofty ideals, 
surely we do not want them to think that ideal service is 
possible only in those two public vocations. For instance, 
in American history we teach the career of General 
Grant. He was a man of iron will, and such will is 
needed in the service of society. Yet is it not equally 
necessary, if a child's reverence is to be developed for 
what is really worthy of imitation, that he should know 
something of such an American citizen as Emerson, not 
as a writer merely, but as a man, who lived consistently 
to his own ideal throughout a quiet but publicly useful 
life? 

Is it not, moreover, a pity that our histories deal so 
exclusively with men, ignoring the contribution of women, 
except in those rare cases where women have been promi- 
nent in war and politics? It is true, the contagion of 
noble living is effective above the plane of sex or vocation. 
Girls may be wakened to ideal effort no less than boys, 
by the lives of great men; since always it is desirable, let 
me repeat, not to imitate the form of the action but to rise 
to the spirit behind it. Still, as children of both sexes 
need the influence of men and women alike, in home and 
school life, so in the study of history they should be brought 
into appreciative contact with the lives of both women and 



ETHICAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY 235 

men, in all possible forms of human service and moral 
heroism.^ 

Thus history, interpreted in this larger, more human 
way, should have a place in the curriculum from the 
beginning to the end of the school work. Only so can 
we utilize it fully, not only for ethical instruction through 
the study of human life, collective and individual, in 
relation to law, but for the higher end of moral awakening 
and development through vital contact with noble men 
and heroic deeds. 



^ Compare, with reference to the whole problem of utilizing history 
and literature for molding ideals, the following inductive studies: 

EsTELLE M. Darrah, A Study of Children's Ideals, Popular 
Science Monthly, vol. LIII, pp. 88-98; Earl Barnes, Children's 
Ideals, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 1-12; Earl Barnes, 
Type Study on Ideals, running through nine numbers of Studies in 
Education, vol. II. The last is a particularly illuminating study. 



XXI 

THE ETHICAL VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY AND 
FOLK-LORE 

There is one body of material that is at once history and 
literature, yet not strictly either, and which has a special 
value in moral education, namely, the expressions of primi- 
tive life in mythology and folk-lore. This material 
deserves separate consideration not only because of its 
importance for moral culture, but because its place and 
meaning have recently been obscured and misunderstood. 
The discovery of the biological parallel between individual 
and race development led to extreme and unwarranted 
educational applications, while the reaction against these 
extremes has disgusted many thoughtful teachers with all 
attempts to make use of the material of primitive life. 
This material comes to us in the shape of the earliest 
written literature, taken down and given final form by 
poets, after being passed on from generation to generation 
through centuries of time. Thus it is never the work of 
an individual, but the refined and condensed product of 
many generations in the race life. Their mythology was 
not only art and religion to primitive men, but, as far as 
they possessed them, science and philosophy. Events of 
history and operations of nature were alike transmuted 
into the body of poetic legend, the one storehouse of 
thought, feeling and imagination in primitive times. 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE 237 

As the one great intellectual and artistic expression of 
life, this body of mythology was naturally regarded with 
deep and increasing reverence. In the early period of 
their formation, legends would be treated with much free- 
dom by minstrels and poets who sang and told them, even 
by grandmothers who related them to children about the 
hearthstone; but as the sanctity of antiquity gathered 
about the stories, they would be changed less and less, 
only a slight refining and polishing coming in later ages. 
Thus the legend would keep its integrity, but gain in 
artistic truth and beauty. Moreover, primitive men stood 
closer to nature and the simple realities of human life than 
do we. They depended for their existence immediately 
upon the orderly activities of nature — the sunshine, the 
rain, the regular succession of the seasons. They rose 
when the morning was gray, and the mystery of the birth 
of light, as the rosy-fingered dawn spread over the sky, 
was an ever-present miracle to them. Their work was in 
immediate contact with the objective forces of the universe, 
no garment of convention obscured the simple, if some- 
times dark, meaning of their love and worship. 

Thus the expression and interpretation of their lives in 
the simple art of mythology was naturally true and vital 
in content and form alike. Their senses were keen and 
true, the basal elements of human nature were powerful 
in them. They thought, as all poets do, in concrete 
images, not arbitrary symbols, and thus, relating what they 
saw and heard, their phrase flamed with material meta- 
phor. All early language is metaphorical, all words 
applied to the mind and spirit had originally an immediate 
physical meaning; it is the receding of the tide of imagina- 
tion that compels us to do in a phrase what primitive 



238 MORAL EDUCATION- 

language accomplished in a single word. Thus the art 
in primitive mythology, if instinctive rather than con- 
scious, is nevertheless art of a high kind. It drives home 
the heart of the story, proportions the other incidents 
about this centre, uses repetition for dramatic emphasis, 
seizes the illuminating metaphor, associates its concep- 
tions with a natural music that is their emotional counter- 
part, utilizes nature as a living language to clothe the 
conceptions of man's heart. To find the equal of this 
art in vitality we must turn to the literature of the great 
individual masters of later times. ^ 

Equally strong is the truth of primitive art in expressing 
and interpreting simple human experience. There are 
two different meanings to the word "truth:" the truth of 
history is the truth of incident; the truth of poetry is the 
truth of character.^ History tells what happened; art 
shows what, given a definite character and certain circum- 
stances, must have happened. Thus there can be a true 
fairy-tale or a false. A false fairy-tale is one that merely 
presents a jumble of imagined incidents, interesting enough 

* "Upon the whole I conclude with this: the wisdom of the primi- 
tive ages was either great or lucky; great, if they knew what they 
were doing and invented the figure to shadow the meaning; luckj', 
if without meaning or intending it they fell upon matter whicii gives 
occasion to such worthy contemplation." — Bacon, Preface to The 
Wisdo7n of the Ancients (translated). Works of Francis Bacon, edited 
by Spedding, et al, vol. XIII, p. 80. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Bos- 
ton, no date. 

' Compare Aristotle, Poetic, translated by Buckley (George Bell 
& Sons, London, 1890), chapter IX, sections 2 and 3: 

' ' For an historian and a poet do not differ from each other, because 
the one writes in verse and the other in prose. * * * But they 
differ in this, that the one speaks of things which have happened, 
and the other of such as might have happened. Hence poetry is 
more philosophic, and more deserving of attention, than history. 
For poetry speaks more of universals, but history of particulars." 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE 239 

perhaps in themselves, but with no order or inner connec- 
tion among them. A true fairy-tale takes a definite char- 
acter, puts him in unusual circumstances or annuls certain 
ordinary limitations of time and space, and then asks, and 
answers truly, "What will the character do?" Primitive 
mythology is filled everywhere with this ethical truth of 
character. The unnumbered poets, through the spectrum 
of whose intelligence and feeling this expression of early 
life has come to us, recognized instinctively the simple laws 
of life, carried out truthfully the great typical characters of 
whom they sang. Thus Brunhild and Siegfried, Pallas 
and Apollo, Thor and Odin, Helen and Agamemnon, have 
this ethical vitality, and the stories told of them are true 
with the higher truth of poetry. Is it any wonder that 
artists of later ages, in the over-refinements of civilization, 
when the senses are artificially stimulated until dulled to 
natural appeals, when the realities of man's life are covered 
over with a garment of convention, should feel the need 
of returning to the breast of the race-mother to gain new 
vitality through saturating themselves with the simple 
expressions of primitive life? Sensitive Tennyson amid 
the refinements and shams of English aristocratic culture, 
Wagner, a late-born Siegfried, yearning back from the 
gloom and convention of a mechanical age to the fresh 
laughter and wild spirit of his Valkyr bride, have alike 
felt this thirst for primitive reality, and have given us their 
greatest works in consequence. 

Thus primitive mythology is good nourishing food for 
the intellect, imagination and emotions, sound in ethical 
content, beautiful in simple artistic form. We need to give 
enough food to children ; and one of the worst mistakes of 
the old education was in giving such starvation diet to the 



240 MORAL EDUCATION 

inner life. Moreover, mythology has a peculiar charm 
and value for children because it springs from a plane of 
life having so much in common with their own. The fact 
that the general parallel in development between the 
individual and the race has been so overstated and mis- 
interpreted by educational extremists should not blind us 
to the fact that the parallel exists and is of great educational 
importance. As the embryo of a higher mammal passes 
through the typical stages in the evolution of organic life, 
so the individual human being passes through the great 
phases in the unfolding of historic humanity. 

There are severe limitations to this general unity of 
development. The child of civilized parents starts well 
on in the line of life; many chapters, struggled through with 
bitter pain by the race, are quite suppressed in his growth- 
process; phases which were worked out only through ages 
of slow change in the race life may spring suddenly from 
potential to active being in the child, under the influence of 
a single stimulus, because of the inherited capital gathered 
up in him as instinct and capacity. Moreover, the slow 
process of evolution is never advance in a straight line, but 
through action and reaction the development of the most 
widely differentiated forms, growing toward higher adapta- 
tion. The different civilizations of the past do not rise one 
above another in simple chronological order, as Hegel 
falsely represented them,^ but grow out in all directions 
from the tree of life. The strength of one is often the 
weakness of another, while through them all is slow 
progress toward the higher. Thus while each of these 

* Compare Hegel's preliminary Classification of Historical Data, 
Philosophy of History, translated by J. Sibree, pp. 103-110, The 
Colonial Press, New York (copyright), 1900. 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE 241 

historic civilizations has its own lesson to teach us, it is a 
mistake to try to make children live in one after another 
of them in chronological succession. To do that would 
be to hang them like monkeys successively to different 
branches of the tree of life, instead of helping them as 
naturally and rapidly as possible up the main line of the 
trunk. 

Still, while general and not specific, the parallel between 
individual and race development holds; and thus early 
childhood and primitive life have much in common. In 
both, the imaginative and emotional life is powerful, all 
forces are conceived in terms of personality, the interest 
in the world is generic but expressed in concrete images, 
and children and primitive men alike stand at the begin- 
ning of the twofold process of moral evolution, — action 
being largely an immediate expression of desire, and sym- 
pathy extending little beyond the bounds of the individual 
organism. This strong community of character between 
children and primitive men gives mythology its now well- 
recognized powerful appeal to the child, and the ethical 
truth and artistic vitality it possesses make it an admirable 
supplementary tool for moral culture. 

It is objected, however, that if we recognize, as we must, 
an historic process of moral evolution, surely we do not 
wish to give to our children material springing from a plane 
ethically far below our own. This is the one strong argu- 
ment that can be urged against the use of expressions of 
primitive life in education, and it deserves our most careful 
consideration. It is true there are elements in mythology 
which are morally bad. The attitude of vEschylus and 
Plato toward their own Greek inheritance may well serve 
to guide us. It is best not to emphasize the legends of the 



242 MORAL EDUCATION 

amours of Zeus, though young children are not hurt by 
these stories because they do not understand them. Simi- 
larly, the frequently recurring cruel stepmother of German 
folk-lore is not good for children, because untrue to average 
human nature. It is well to omit stories making elements 
of cruelty and brutality too prominent, though an error on 
that side is better than effeminacy. Thus it is not a suffi- 
cient ethical guarantee of our material that it comes from 
primitive times: we must use rigorous and intelligent 
selection, omitting those legends that are morally harmful. 
On the other hand, if we are to use mythology at all, we 
should have for it something of the same reverence primi- 
tive men showed it. I have no patience with the facile 
retelling of these great expressions of race life by all sorts 
of feeble-minded people to suit their own ethical and artistic 
whims. This is one of the many expressions of that prev- 
alent notion that any one who can talk nonsense glibly 
can write books for children. To write books for children 
all the insight and skill are needed which go to the creation 
of literature for adults, and something more — the ability 
to take the child's point of view and speak in terms of his 
experience. Even when the *fixing-up' of the legends 
to suit our ethical notions, or those of our time, is done by 
men and women of real moral insight and artistic skill, 
the effect is almost always to emasculate the material of 
the very human vitality, the reality of race experience, that 
gives it worth as an instrument of moral education.^ I 
remember the pain and grief the late Professor Hermann 
Grimm expressed over such a retelling of those unmatched 

* Professor Adler's admirable book on The Moral Instruction of 
Children seems to me open to criticism in regard to the liberties he 
has taken with stories, drawn from folk-lore and especially from the 
Bible, in retelling them for ethical purposes. 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE 243 

German legends gathered from the life of the people by his 
father and uncle, the Grimm brothers. The remolding 
of the stories had been done by certain ethical teachers, 
with the aim of making the material more helpful 
morally; but Professor Grimm said that all the life had 
been taken out of the legends and that in their 'ethical' 
shape they were quite spoiled. He was right: these con- 
densed and refined expressions of generations of earnest 
living are far too precious to be subject to the whim of 
every educator who has a particular ethical lesson to incul- 
cate. If we use primitive material let us use it reverently; 
if certain stories seem to us harmful let us omit them wholly, 
not mutilate or emasculate them in the daring attempt 
to improve them. 

I question, however, whether much harm can be done 
even by the worst elements in mythology, since the positive 
ethical worth outweighs the occasional flaws. More- 
over, there is a distinct advantage for moral education in 
the fact that primitive mythology springs from a plane 
morally earlier than that reached in present civilization. 
Moral evolution is not only from the lower to the higher, 
but from the simple to the complex; and children are pre- 
pared to respond to the simpler ethical standards of 
mythology before they can even safely meet the complex 
riddles that fill the literature interpreting modern life. 
It is not a question here of relative and absolute standards, 
or of lower and higher ones, but of teaching moral ele- 
ments before their intricate combinations, and moral prin- 
ciples earlier than the complexities of their applications. 
Read Ibsen and Goethe, and the great problem is to dis- 
tinguish the good from the evil. Every bad situation has 
some redeeming element, while every good action seems 



244 MORAL EDUCATION 

stained by some marring selfishness in the motive. In 
primitive mythology the good is usually all on one side, 
and the bad on the other, the good conquering, as it should, 
in the struggle between them. The tendency in life is for 
the good in the end to overcome evil, but in the detail of 
human experience that tendency is often thwarted or un- 
fulfilled. It is necessary for our moral safety that we 
should recognize the great trend of law before we are 
brought face to face with exceptions and failures in its 
fulfillment. Thus children should study primitive myth- 
ology long before they can safely read Ibsen and Goethe. 

One may choose a myth at random to illustrate this 
simplicity of ethical problem and standard in the expres- 
sions of primitive life. Take, for instance, such a story 
as that of Perseus and Andromeda : On the one hand is a 
young and beautiful maiden, made as human and attract- 
ive as possible. Opposed to her is a great, misshapen 
monster from the deep, more repulsive than an ordinary 
beast, and thus as remote from our human sympathy as 
possible. The innocent maiden, through no fault of her 
own, is to be destroyed by the monster. Between the two 
comes in Perseus, representing human strength, courage 
and the defense of innocence, armed with the Gorgon 
head of power. He destroys the monster and releases 
the maiden. So the story ought to end in a good world ; 
so we believe it must end in the ultimate working-out of 
life. Meantime, in what we see of human life, how often 
the innocent Andromedas go down before the brute 
monsters of evil; but before a child can safely recognize 
that fact, he should see that the issue ought to be the 
other way, and it is his duty to make it so if possible. 

If a Greek myth, chosen at random, expresses this simple 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE 245 

opposition of good and evil, how much more the gloomier, 
more earnest mythology of the northland. There, human 
life was a perpetual struggle with the brute forces of 
nature. Norse mythology is simply a transfigured inter- 
pretation of that struggle with its ethical implications. 
On the one side are the bright gods, Thor, Odin, Balder 
and Freya, representing the human will and intelligence in 
various aspects ; on the other are the Fenrir Wolf, the Mid- 
gard Serpent, the Jotuns of ice and snow and the Demon 
of destructive fire. This northern mythology expresses, 
moreover, a further lesson that children need to learn before 
they can safely meet the complexities of modern life. It is 
true, good sometimes goes down before evil ; but it is pos- 
sible to go down with colors flying; there is a way of defeat 
that is the greatest of victories. It is this lesson to which 
the Norseman continually returns. He did not ask vic- 
tory, but only to die fighting heroically on the field of 
battle, and in the end to share the last tragic conflict of the 
gods against the unleashed brutality of the universe. 

A little later the same spirit takes form in our own 
Anglo-Saxon legend of Beowulf, who fought with Grendel 
under the sea and was chosen king of a people whom he 
ruled and protected for fifty winters. In his old age, 
a new danger menaced his people: a monster "worm" or 
dragon, guarding a hoard of treasures, made nightly 
onslaughts and devastated the land with fire. So Beo- 
wulf went out to fight the monster as a king should ; but 
his thanes failed to support him, and fled to the wood 
in terror — all but Wiglaf, of Beowulf's own kin. With 
his one faithful comrade Beowulf fought and killed the 
monster, but was himself wounded unto death. And to 
Wiglaf 



246 



MORAL EDUCATION 



Gray with care: 
* * * 

' Bid the renowned in battle 
After the bright flames, 
It shall be to remind 
High-rising 
That it the sea-farers 
Beowulf's tomb-hill, 
Over the flood-mists 
He took from his neck 
The valorous war-chief, 
To the young spear-warrior, 
The ring and burnie — 
*Thou art the last remnant 
Of the Waegmundings; 
Of my kinsmen 
The earls in their strength: 
That was of the old man 
Of his breast-thoughts, 
The hot hostile waves: 
His soul seekins 



* Beowulf spoke, 

* * * 

* * * 

a grave-hill make 

at the cape of the ocean; 

my people — 

on Hrone's point — 

afterward may call 

when the ships 

from afar drive.' 

the golden ring 

to the thane he gave it, 

the gold-colored helm, 

bade him use them well : 

of our race, 

all Wierd has swept before, 

at the Creator's will, 

I after them shall go,' 

the last word 

before he the fire sought, 

of him from his breast went 

the doom of the sooth-fast."^ 



This is the other lesson : to go down like a hero and find 
victory in defeat. I have never read Tennyson's match- 
less Passing of King Arthur without thinking of Beowulf 
and realizing how deeply this lesson is in the moral con- 
sciousness of the Anglo-Saxon race. The two poems are 
utterly different in artistic form : in Beowulf metaphors are 
poured out in a wild flood, rugged words arouse the sensi- 



^ Translated from Beowulf, edited by Harrison and Sharp, lines 
2793-2821. Ginn & Co., Boston, 188S. 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE 247 

bility with harsh alKteration; in Tennyson the images are 
carried to thoughful completeness and every syllable yields 
its due melody to the cadence of the line. Yet differing 
thus in form, how at one the two poems are in moral con- 
tent. As Beowulf is left with one faithful thane, so King 
Arthur is alone in the end with Sir Bedivere. As Beowulf 
goes, not knowing the issue, confidently to meet whatever 
"doom" is meted out to the loyal, so of King Arthur is 
repeated the weird line: 

"From the great deep to the great deep he goes!" 

Tennyson may have been consciously influenced by the 
rude poem at the beginning of his race's history; but 
whether that be true or not, the lesson of moral heroism in 
disaster is deep in the life of the race, making modern 
England, like ancient Rome, most to be feared when in 
utter defeat. 

Thus the virile expressions of race life carry the simple 
masculine virtues that must always underlie the moral 
subtleties of civilization if life is to remain sound. If re- 
finement is not to mean degeneration, it must be a strong, 
forceful life that is refined. If the development of appre- 
ciation is not to mean the loss of moral fibre, the character 
must be firmly based in those simple principles whose 
application will prove so intricate and confusing. Primi- 
tive mythology may be therefore a peculiarly helpful influ- 
ence in early moral education, since the wise use of it will 
do so much to establish those basal elements of character 
without which the refinements of later cultivation would 
mean disaster. 



XXII 

THE VALUE OF LITERATURE FOR ETHICAL 
INSTRUCTION AND INSPIRATION 

History records the actions of men; art expresses their 
thoughts, emotions and ideals. Thus art reveals, as it 
were, the soul of history that has woven its material gar- 
ment of facts and institutions. Therefore art is the most 
ideal of all expressions of human life. Less influenced 
by partisan feeling than religion, freer from conditions of 
utility than ordinary action, more directly expressive of the 
spirit than institutions, art is the garment to which we must 
turn if we would read the soul of human history. 

Each of the fine arts has its own peculiar excellence in 
revealing the life and spirit of man. The greatness of 
literature is its universality. It cannot reveal and impress 
an imaged conception so forcibly as sculpture and painting, 
it cannot appeal directly to the emotions with the sweep 
of power belonging to music, but it unites something of 
the functions of both types of art, and goes beyond either 
in the range and many-sidedness of its expression and inter- 
pretation of life. Literature is, moreover, by far the most 
accessible of the fine arts. We are doing much by me- 
chanical invention to bring the material of the other arts 
within the reach of students everywhere, yet we can never 
succeed in rendering them accessible as is literature. To 
read the history of the human spirit as painting and sculpt- 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF LITERATURE 249 

ure reveal it, we must go beyond the study of reproduc- 
tions of works of art and have opportunities of visiting the 
great museums of Europe. Music must be recreated 
every time it is enjoyed, and to hear it adequately given, 
one must have opportunities of culture open to very few. 
On the other hand, the great literature of the world is 
accessible to everyone. The masters speak to us just as 
they spoke to their contemporaries centuries ago. No one 
is so poor that he cannot have access to a few great books ; 
and many are not needed : it is loving and repeated contact 
with those loftiest spirits in whom humanity is so won- 
drously revealed, that gives the real value of literature. 
Think what it would mean if we could spend an hour each 
week in the Sistine Chapel with Michael Angelo, or hear 
eveiy day a symphony of Beethoven or an opera of Wagner. 
Yet the Wagners and Angelos of literature lie on the table 
of our own room; since we may turn to them any time, we 
rarely enjoy them at all, and people even go through the 
world and die without ever climbing the mountain of 
purification with Dante or sharing the world vision of 
Goethe. 

Thus the universality and accessibility of literature as a 
fine art give it a unique place as a supplementary instru- 
ment of moral education. Moreover, it has a range of 
ethical values not equaled by any other fine art. There- 
fore I shall consider the art of literature as the one best 
expressing the value of the fine arts for purposes of ethical 
instruction and inspiration. 

1. The first value of literature in molding character 
comes from its content of thought, feeling and imagina- 
tion. Literature is filled with noble thinking on the per- 
manent ethical problems of human life, expressed not for 



250 MORAL EDUCATION 

the trained specialist, but for the ordinary thinking man 
and woman. Moreover, thought in hterature is never 
expressed alone, but always transfused with emotion and 
exalted by imagination. The result is an appeal not to a 
fraction of man, the understanding, but to the whole person- 
ality, deepening thought, awakening imagination, refining 
feeling and touching the will into action. The resulting 
education is morally of the highest value since the different 
aspects of the spirit are cultivated in that harmony which 
gives each right relation to the whole of life. 

2. All literature, even the most objectively dramatic, is 
in content and form alike an expression of the life and char- 
acter of its author, and often the best thing in a book is the 
man who wrote it. In Sartor Rcsartus, better than its 
burlesque humor, its heavy German philosophy, even than 
its flights of inspired poetry, is the earnest hater of shams 
and preacher of the gospel of work, Carlyle himself; and 
to feel the vigor of his spirit is to get the heart out of Sartor 
Rcsartus. Thus, gradually, through loving contact with a 
writer's thought the student grows into an appreciation of 
his spirit, until Emerson and Lowell, Dante and Goethe, 
become more real than the imagined figures of drama or 
novel, and nearer than the people we meet in the street. 
It is impossible to estimate too highly the moral value of 
thus making the great masters our intimate friends, touch- 
ing their thought across the centuries and over the leagues 
of space. 

3. In a different way literature is quite as valuable as 
history in presenting life in relation to law. History has 
the advantage of reality. Our interpretation of its facts 
may be utterly wrong, nevertheless the facts are there, with 
their implicit lesson, waiting for a true reading. Litera- 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF LITERATURE 251 

ture, on the other hand, is Ufe put through the spectrum of 
some man's spirit, and there may frequently arise a sus- 
picion that he has misinterpreted his material. This 
questioning in itself, however, is positively helpful in 
ethical instruction. The student is driven to compare his 
author's presentation of life with what he knows through 
experience and observation, and thus tends to formulate 
his own ethical interpretations. . Much more important 
than this is the advantage literature possesses in that it can 
present the tendencies of life carried to completion, the 
laws fulfilled in application. Herein is the prophetic 
function of art: it shows the completed circle of which 
experience presents a fragmentary arc. The moral vision 
of the poet perceives the curve of the arc and his imagina- 
tion completes it to the perfect circle. The tendency of 
every fact of the spirit is to become a fact of the external 
world; but as Plato taught, matter is resistant and the 
forces of the spirit are never completely carried out in it. 
The tendency is that "murder will out," but many a mur- 
derer dies with his crime undiscovered. The tendency 
of a beautiful spirit is to mold its body into a beautiful gar- 
ment, yet the features of Socrates were the laughing-stock 
of his contemporaries. Thus it is to art that we must 
turn to find the laws of life carried full circle, the deed re- 
turning upon the doer. This is one phase of the ideal 
element present in all true art. Art never merely photo- 
graphs life, but interprets it; and the greatness of an artist 
is tested more by his ability to reveal the meaning than to 
imitate the form of life. In the drama there must be five 
full acts, carrying the ethical forces assumed in the early 
scenes to their final fulfillment in the last; in life the cur- 
tain may fall at any point, even in the first scene. In life, 



252 MORAL EDUCATION 

not all mad ambition crushes its Macbeth, not all un- 
founded jealousy is goaded to Othello's black doom, nor 
is a balance of the will between opposing forces sustained 
to the disaster of Hamlet; but in the tragic drama it must 
be so, for the last fatal conclusion is in germ in the opening 
scenes and characters. In life the tangled threads are 
spun but a little way, then Atropos cuts them, and how 
they may be woven out behind the impenetrable veil we 
cannot see; but the artist must see: it is the harmoniously 
woven garment, with its gold of love and its purple of 
grief, its light threads of joy and youth, and its heavy 
black strands of disaster, all fused in the living whole, we 
demand of him. Thus with never a word of moral preach- 
ing, Shakespeare is one of the profoundest ethical teachers 
in all the world, and Dante, for purposes of ethical instruc- 
tion, outweighs all the great philosophers. 

4. It is evident that what was said of the value for ethical 
instruction of 'bad examples' in history applies even 
more forcibly to literature. A bad man may conceal his 
real nature and dress his vices in an attractive garb, at 
least for a time; art unmasks its villain, and when it deals 
with evil makes it as ugly in form as it is revolting in spirit. 
No student of Othello was ever led to imitate lago, and the 
examples of Goneril and Regan never tempted a child to 
ingratitude. Indeed, another test of true art is the way 
it mates the body to the soul in portraying moral perver- 
sion. Literature that makes vice attractive and arouses a 
sentimental interest in it is not true art but a low pandering 
to decadent sensibility. 

5. By its portrayal of noble characters literature has a 
power, unequalled by other studies, to waken and mold 
lofty ideals of life. An abstract statement of a high aim 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF LITERATURE 253 

is ineffective compared with the power of a concretely 
imaged ideal. Since a primary function of art is to make 
its material live with vivifying imagination and emotion, 
the writer of histories must be an artist in the highest 
sense to give his work as great a value as literature pos- 
sesses in inspiring ideals.^ Review in thought the group 
of Shakespeare's noblest heroines: think what it would 
mean for a girl to dwell with such companions. If then 
her ideal could be transfigured with the light that shines 
in the face of Browning's Pompilia would it not be radiantly 
complete ? 

6. Literature has further a power to deepen and refine 
the life of appreciation. This is true of our relation to the 
many-sided and ever-changing beauty of the nature world. 
It is by sharing the keener vision of the poet that our re- 
sponse is deepened to the thousandfold beauties of the 
world that is about us. One who has been stirred by 
Matthew Arnold's Self -Dependence will always feel more 
deeply the majesty of the "intense, clear, star-sown vault 
of heaven" .and the restless motion of "the lit sea's 
unquiet way." One who has listened to the sounding 
music of Sappho's 

"Hesperus all things thou bringst, which the early-born 
Dawn afar scattered, 
Thou bringest the goat and the sheep, to the mother 
thou bringest her child;" 

and has watched with Byron the evening hour "Sink o'er 
the earth so beautiful and soft," must ever find a deeper 

' See the inductive studies in children's ideals by Darrah and 
Barnes, referred to above (p. 235). 



254 MORAL EDUCATION 

meaning in that hour of meditation and of love. As 
poetry transfigures the earth in describing it, it becomes 
a medium of our response to the beauty and sublimity 
of the world. 

7. In all natural literature, however, nature is never a 
direct object of description, but a language for the expres- 
sion of the thought and emotion of human life. Thus 
more important than the wakening to the beauty of nature 
is the function literature fulfills of unsealing our eyes to 
the dignity, comedy, tragedy, romance in the drama of 
common human life. All the mystery of Hamlet is 
wrapped up in the least of us; Dante's Heaven and Purga- 
tory and Hell are in the humblest village in the land. It 
is through the interpretation of life in literature that we 
come to appreciate the human world in which we live. 

It is strange how we still fail to see the necessity of the 
right cultivation of feeling and imagination.^ Our failure 
to follow the Golden Rule comes less from lack of good in- 
tention than from inability to put ourselves in imagination 
into the place of others and appreciate how they would 
feel under given circumstances. 

Not only this large appreciation of character, but the 
saving quality of ethical good taste, which helps us to dis- 
tinguish the morally congruous and incongruous, results 
from this cultivated sensibility and imagination. The 
people without that indefinable but priceless virtue called 
'tact,' the 'cranks' who cannot see things in relation 
but are dominated by a single idea, the fanatics who can- 

• "D'une maniere gen^Tale, on pent dire qn'il la source de toute 
grande vertu, de touto action morale de haute port(5e, comnie aussi 
au fond de tout grand dert'glenient, soit durable soit accidentel, on 
trouve I'entratnenient bon ou funeste d'une imagination puissante." — 
Marion, De la Solidarity Morale, p. 68. 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF LITERATURE 255 

not tolerate the unessential, but spend their lives fighting 
it, so that they are powerless (or powderless) when the real 
conflict comes, the people who cannot laugh at themselves, 
but take their whims for their conscience — all these are 
melancholy examples of the absence of that cultivation of 
feeling and imagination which in its negative aspect gives 
the saving grace of humor, and in its positive the apprecia- 
tion of moral harmony. One is tempted to say that it is 
impossible to live a moral life without a sense of humor! 
Except wide human experience, I know no channel 
through which ethical good taste, the sense of moral pro- 
portion, can be so well cultivated as through wide and 
appreciative contact with all phases of human life as 
these are portrayed in the world's greatest literature. 

To gain this education in appreciation the student must 
not stop with the artistic symbol, but must return from it 
to what it symbolizes. It is possible to shed so many 
tears over the imaginary characters of novel and drama 
that one's eyes are dry in the presence of the miseries one 
might alleviate. This result is due to the dangerous form 
of dissipation which is present when the emotions are 
allowed to effervesce with no expression in action.^ When 
the circuit between feeling and action, reception and ex- 

* "Even the habit of excessive indulgence in music, for those who 
are neither performers themselves nor musically gifted enough to 
take it in a purely intellectual way, has probably a relaxing effect 
upon the character. One becomes filled with emotions which 
habitually pass without promptmg to any deed, and so the inertly 
sentimental condition is kept up. The remedy would be, never to 
suffer one's self to have an emotion at a concert, without expressing 
it afterward in some active way. Let the expression be the least 
thing in the world — speaking genially to one's aunt, or giving up 
one's seat in a horse-car, if nothing more heroic offers — but let it not 
fail to take place." — William James, The Principles of Psychology, 
vol. I, p. 126. 



256 MORAL EDUCATION 

pression, is complete, all stirring of the imagination and 
emotions to an appreciation of the characters of literature 
is a means of responding more sensitively to the human 
beings of the real world. The value of this culture for 
moral living can hardly be exaggerated, since only as we 
possess the power to enter appreciatively into another's 
spirit can we estimate his life justly and act helpfully 
toward him. 

8. There is a further phase of this education in apprecia- 
tion which is of crowning importance. The world in which 
we live is apt always to seem commonplace. The mass of 
submerging details surges in upon us day by day with no 
principle of selection. Only the rarest insight can dis- 
tinguish that which is essential from the crowd of meaning- 
less incidents which die with the day that gave them birth. 
Literature has power to give us a certain spiritual perspec- 
tive with reference to daily life by revealing the divine in 
the commonplace, the ideal meaning present in the hum- 
blest situation. If it rests us to go out from the dull cir- 
cumstances of our own lives into the imagined characters 
of the drama and the romantic situations of the novel, we 
return to our daily routine with a new sense of the infinite 
possibilities of life gathered up in our own humble per- 
sonality and circumstances. After all, life has always been 
commonplace to commonplace people, it is made sublime 
only by living sublimely. Literature helps us to see that 
every cause which ever challenged the support of men de- 
mands our service today, that the ideal of which we 
dream will be found, if at all, only by living nobly the 
seemingly humble duties of our daily existence. 

9. Finally, literature shares with all art the power to 
calm and exalt the spirit, thus giving that balance and 



THE ETHICAL VALUE OF LITERATURE 257 

serenity so indispensable to noble living. This influence, 
indeed, is the supreme function of beauty in relation to the 
human spirit. If it be v/isdom to 'see life steadily and 
whole,' virtue means living life steadily and w^hole: not 
piecemeal, in fragmentary disjointed parts, but each ele- 
ment lived quietly and sanely in harmony with all the rest. 
Thus the art which develops in us that serene wisdom con- 
tributes in tlie most direct way to noble living. 



XXIII 

THE PRACTICAL USE OF HISTORY AND LIT- 
ERATURE FOR ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 

It is evident that the subjects of study most available in 
supporting and enlarging the work of ethical instruction 
are of value not only in giving knowledge, but often much 
more in forming ideals, awakening appreciation and 
inspiring action. Thus the task of ethical instruction can- 
not be separated from the work of moral inspiration. 
That is why courses carefully graded to give ethical 
knowledge so often hamper the best use of history and hter- 
ature in influencing character. The moral value of these 
subjects comes less through a series of formal lessons with a 
distinctively ethical import than through a wide and gen- 
erous contact, under good guidance, with the material 
the subjects present. 

Moreover, the simplest expression of life may appeal to 
the youngest student and the wisest philosopher. A 
grasshopper should interest a child and Darwin. The 
lives of noble men and women are helpful in every stage 
of the student's growth. Literature that is simple and 
artistic comes home to us with fresh meaning at every 
step of our experience. Indeed one of the best tests of 
a masterpiece is its ability to grow with our growth, re- 
vealing a deeper truth as we bring the key of enlarged 
experience to unlock its treasures. 



ETHICAL COURSES IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE 259 

Thus our use of material drawn from human life must 
follow the hint of life itself. The typical experiences 
come to us in different form over and over again, with new 
meaning on more mature planes of life. Similarly we 
need to return again and again to the material expressing 
and interpreting humanity, and wide and frequent contact 
with the best of it is far more helpful in molding char- 
acter than is the formal study of any narrow series of 
selections chosen for a specific moral import. The organ- 
ization of the material must come more in the mind of 
the student than in the curriculum. 

Moreover, as the ethical interest is central in human life, 
so it is central in every expression of life. Therefore, to 
secure the ethical value of history and literature we do not 
need to study them in any unusual way. If we study his- 
tory as history, and literature as literature, their moral 
contribution will be fully gained. It is only when their 
meaning is unAvisely narrowed, as when history is made 
a record of wars and political changes merely, literature a 
text-book for philology or rhetoric, that we lose much of 
their ethical, because their human, value. Thus it is the 
wise and broad use of history and literature in the ordinary 
course of school work that will yield the main value of 
these subjects for ethical instruction. Neither here do v/e 
wish ever to moralize — to tack morals to incidents and 
characters — but to help the children to understand events 
and persons in relation to law. Thus the moral meaning 
will be the human centre of all the sound work in history 
and literature, rather than a separate teaching abstracted 
and given apart. M. Vessiot (academic inspector of 
schools, Marseilles, France) expressed this so admirably 
in discussing the French program of ethical instructioii, 



260 MORAL EDUCATION 

that our American Commissioner of Education in 1882, 
John Eaton, caused the statement to be translated and 
issued as a special bulletin by his bureau. M. Vessiot 
says (pp. 3 and 4) : 

"Moral and civil instruction ought not then to be 
confined to one division or subdivision of the scholastic 
programme, restricted to one class or to a prescribed hour, 
pressed in the narrow mould of a few inert formulas or 
solemn maxims; it ought to permeate all parts of the work 
of instruction, blossoming out in varied developments and 
reappearing everyday and every hour; it ought to be the 
life, the soul, of the school. It is in the school that a child 
should draw in morality and patriotism as he inspires air, 
without noticing it; for to teach morality successfully there 
is no call for too much moralizing. That moral lesson 
which is announced risks being lost. Moral instruction 
should be combined with everything, but insensibly, like 
those nutritive elements which the scientist finds reappear- 
ing in all sorts of food, but which are concealed under the 
infinite variety of color and form in which nature clothes 
animals and plants, and which man unwittingly assimi- 
lates without a suspicion. Thus moral instruction will 
enter into the various work of the class, the readings, reci- 
tations, dictations, the stories related by the teacher, the 
selections drawn from the poets and romancers, the familiar 
and sprightly conversations, the grave reflections on his- 
tory, the games, the promenades — being everywhere 
present, in short, without making its presence remarked." 

How admirable the statement is! Yet in the French 
program for ethical instruction, unfortunately, M. Vessiot's 
view has been departed from, and the French text-books 
abstract the moral element overmuch and treat it apart. 



ETHICAL COURSES IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE 261 

Perhaps this suggests a practical value in separate courses 
for ethical instruction, in spite of the fact that they do not 
form the ideal medium. There is danger in the present 
condition of our education that the moral element will 
often be ignored entirely in the teaching of history and 
literature. Many of our teachers are by no means fitted 
to deal with these great expressions of human life and 
bring out the moral heart of them. I recall an eminent 
university professor of Romance languages telling his class 
that there was no ethical meaning in Dante, and that the 
value of the Divine Comedy was entirely as a text for 
philology. This is an extreme case, and often teachers 
in the grades have a more human appreciation of their 
subjects than is shown sometimes by advanced specialists. 
Nevertheless, in many schools the teachers are quite 
unaware of the opportunities for moral culture presented 
by their subjects ; and history is narrowed to a mere record 
of wars and political changes, while literature is studied 
for some single interest, rhetorical or linguistic. By sepa- 
rate courses for ethical instruction we should avoid this, 
and be sure that the due time and attention would be 
given to the moral meaning of the two subjects we are 
considering, so that children v/ould clearly appreciate it. 

On the other hand, such separate courses v/ould almost 
inevitably tend to carry further than is true of the regular 
courses in history and literature, the vicious practice of 
using selections; for it would be natural to cull from the 
whole field of these subjects the incidents, scraps of verse 
and prose, bits of narration, which would give concrete 
form to the lessons we desired to teach. Undoubtedly 
selections have their place: a good deed is worth remem- 
bering apart from the man who did it, and the beautiful 



262 MORAL EDUCATION 

expression of a lofty thought is inspiring, though removed 
from its context; but to depend upon such fragments as the 
basis of our ethical instruction would be to miss the main 
moral value history and literature should have. An inci- 
dent in the life of a man can be understood truly only in 
relation to his entire character; an event in the history of a 
people is to be interpreted only as we study the people and 
their whole civilization. Even more rigidly does the same 
principle apply to literature, where the artistic unity of a 
composition gives its place and meaning to every detail of 
the whole. Nothing is more vicious than to try to teach 
literature through volumes of scraps. The broken meats 
may be good tasting, but they lack the artistic and moral 
unity that makes a literary masterpiece so wonderful an 
expression and interpretation of human life. Better one 
good novel than a dozen best scenes from as many sepa- 
rate stories; better one sound poem than an anthology 
of happy lines; better the life of one great man than a 
collection of ethical incidents from the biographies of 
many individuals. This principle is sadly violated in 
much of the material we put into the hands of our children 
in home and school,^ but it need not be violated, as it at 
least probably would be in separate courses in history and 
literature for ethical instruction. 

' A striking example of the violation of this principle is found in 
a considerable portion of the Young Folks' Library, edited by 
Thomas Bailey Aldrich et ah, and recently published in twenty vol- 
umes by the Hall and Locke Co., Boston. Some of the most eminent 
names in the United States are associated with the compilation of 
these volumes, the books contain portions of the noblest literature 
ever produced for children and young people; yet such gathering 
together of climaxes and especially thrilling bits and fragments (as 
for instance in vol. XIII, Sea Stories) is thoroughly vicious if made 
the daily bread of the child's reading. It is like eating aU the frosting 
from cake instead of a good nourishing breakfast. 



ETHICAL COURSES IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE 263 

There would be a further disadvantage in such courses, 
which has been imphed in what has already been said: 
to deal with history and literature purely for ethical in- 
struction would mean to abstract overmuch the moral 
interest frorn the whole of human life, and thus to get it out 
of proportion and true perspective. As it would be un- 
fortunate to wear one's heart on the outside of the body, 
so it is a pity to bring the moral element to the surface un- 
naturally and make it too explicit. Much of the best moral 
nurture comes unconsciously, and we can easily go too far 
in making the student aware of the ethical implications of 
what he is studying Moreover, when we teach the great 
expressions of human life purely with reference to ethics, 
we are in danger of falling into the detached moralizing 
which we have found to be so great a bane to all ethical 
instruction. It is not that we want to trick- children into 
listening to ethical instruction when they imagine it to be 
something else ; but that the moral element should be kept 
in vital relation to all others, as a beating heart, not 
removed and dissected, but alive within the organism, 
sending its life-blood to every part. 

Thus separate courses utilizing history and literature for 
the purpose of ethical instruction bear much the same rela- 
tion to the regular work in those subjects that the commu- 
nisms, in which groups of people gather apart to construct 
an ideal society, sustain to the great human world. We 
need the altruistic people in the world to contribute 
their leavening to its coarse lump; meanwhile we may 
rejoice at every such experiment even though it fail, 
because of the standard it sets and the lesson it teaches. 
Similarly the chief value of such courses, utilizing history 
and literature for ethical instruction, as characterize the 



264 MORAL EDUCATION 

French system of education,^ or as are so wisely conducted 
in the New York Ethical Culture Schools, is to show our 
teachers the moral implications of the subjects they teach 
and help them to utilize the full moral value of history and 
literature in the ordinary course of school work. When all 
our teachers are able to do this, and history and literature 
are given their full place in the curriculum, the need for 
such separate courses will perhaps have passed, through 
the learning and applying of the lesson they exist to teach. 

Meantime, the millennium is not near, and we must wel- 
come every expedient which will reinforce the work of 
ethical instruction. Without establishing separate courses 
for such instruction in history and literature, it may be 
well to increase the time given to direct ethical teaching 
as outlined in Chapter XIX, and to use material drawn 
from history and literature frequently for texts and illustra- 
tions in the talks with the children. The controlling 
principle is to keep all our ethical teaching, direct and 
indirect, soundly human and in sane relation to the whole 
of life. 

There are, further, certain incidental ways, apart from 
the regular work of the school, in which literature may be 
utilized for moral ends. The opening period of the school 
is usually given, very wisely, to some exercise that may con- 
tribute a helpful thought to consecrate the day's work. 
Whether or not the law and practice of the community 
sanction the use of the literature of the Bible for this pur- 
pose in the public school, for private and public schools 
alike there is a large amount of other ethical literature 
which may be used to advantage. The Little Flowers of 

' Compare J. C. Bracq, Moral and Religious Instruction in France, 
Educational Review, vol. XXIII, pp. 325-337. 



ETHICAL COURSES IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE 2Co 

Saint Francis of Assisi, The Imitation of Christ of Thomas 
a Kempis, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, portions 
of Emerson, Lowell, Whlttier, Wordsworth, are exam- 
ples of the kind of literature, directly moral in import, 
selections of which may be read with the children at the 
opening of the day and so consecrate it. Days for public 
celebration and birthdays of world heroes furnish a 
further opportunity for the use of literature, biography and 
history for ethical purposes. 

The main use of history and literature for ethical instruc- 
tion and moral inspiration, however, must come in the 
ordinary course of home and school life. I must point in 
conclusion to the general principles which should guide our 
selection of material for children of different ages. 

These principles are well known and I have already 
indicated them : 

(1) Here as everywhere we must begin with the child's 
experience, and work out from that to the larger world it 
interprets. (2) The concrete must precede the abstract; 
(3) At the same time the interest in the generic whole pre- 
cedes interest in the special part. (4) The imagination 
and emotions can be appealed to earlier than the reflective 
reason, and synthetic appreciation can be awakened 
before intellectual analysis should be stimulated. 

■Following these guiding principles we should begin in 
history with simple actions and concrete lives as near as 
possible to the child world. These should be chosen at 
first very widely from the life of humanity, without refer- 
ence to the accepted divisions of history. Gradually these 
characters and deeds may be identified with the movements 
of humanity they interpret. The field should be narrowed 
as the work goes on, the study enriched by a recognition 



2GG MORAL EDUCATION 

of all the affinities in time, race and civilization of the lives 
stiuMed. In the high school period the student v^ill be 
able to take a specific phase of history, deal with the 
various expressions of life it presents, appreciate the char- 
acters in all their historic relations, and reflectively discover 
the laws underlying and controlling both men and events. 

Parallel with this rough outline should be the classifica- 
tion of the material literature presents. We begin with 
literature simple in form, imaginative and emotional 
rather than intellectual, general in interest but dealing with 
concrete life, and in subject-matter as close as possible 
to the child world. It is interesting to see that there are 
two kinds of literature that fulfill in different ways these 
conditions and are complementary to each other. We 
have seen how powerful is the appeal of primitive mythol- 
ogy to young children, since it springs from the plane of 
life upon which the child lives and fulfills usually all of the 
conditions mentioned above. In another way portions of 
the simplest literature arising from the child's own time 
and race fulfill the same conditions. The poems of Long- 
fellow, Lowell, Bryant, Field and Riley that touch nature 
;md child life in subject and are simple in form have a 
powerful appeal to young children. Primitive mythology 
contains the great simple ethical contrasts, this modern 
literature gives the refinement and delicacy resulting from 
centuries of moral evolution. Where the one embodies 
the generic race life, the other expresses the moral reaction 
of the highly developed individual. In both, the remain- 
ing conditions are fulfilled, and the simplification of form 
can be secured for the youngest children by oral retelling. 

This must show how wrong is a course of study graded 
with reference merely to the chronology of the literature. 



ETHICAL COURSES IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE 267 

Children should begin at both ends and work toward the 
middle. For instance in English literature, Beowulf and 
the simpler works of Wordsworth, Scott, Tennyson, and 
especially the American writers, should precede Chaucer, 
Milton and Shakespeare. 

As the child grows, a wider range of material becomes 
available, more attention can be paid to the relation of the 
artistic expression to the author and his world. A little 
later, the child may study a number of works from the same 
writer, then those expressing an epoch and race. The end 
here as in the case of history is the exhaustive reflective 
study of a special part of the material with reference to all 
its relations and the laws it reveals. 

I can merely point to these large principles of arranging 
our material for indirect ethical instruction, repeating that 
much of it should be used over and over again. While we 
must beware of emasculating great expressions of human 
life by attempting to use them earlier than the child's 
experience and state of development would warrant, 
nevertheless, as the great laws of life are implicit in the 
simplest and earliest phases of experience, so we can teach 
them repeatedly on different planes of life, deepening 
the intellectual consciousness each time. Thus we may 
well turn, over and over again, to the great expressions of 
Iiiimanity in history and literature, hoping to unlock them 
more deeply each time with the ever new key of enlarged 
experience and more mature character. 



XXIV 

INSTRUCTION IN THE INTIMATE PROBLEMS 
OF HUMAN LIFE 

There is one phase of the problem of ethical instruction 
on wkich I have not touched, but which is the most diffi- 
cult of all; this is the task of giving children knowledge 
concerning the most intimate phases of human life — sex, 
marriage and parenthood. This problem concerns us 
throughout the child's development, though it centres in 
the period of transition from childhood to young manhood 
and womanhood ; and because it is so difficult and stands 
somewhat apart from the general problem of ethical 
instruction, I have reserved it for separate discussion. 
Certainly it is amazing that so many children should be 
allowed to grow up with no knowledge, except what has 
been vulgarly acquired, regarding the most important 
ethical questions of human life, those upon which by far the 
majority of wrongly directed lives are shipwrecked. It is 
surely shameful that the child's knowledge of the most 
sacred elements of human life should come to him from 
vulgar companions in the gutter. 

Why is it that with so much insistence as there is today 
upon the need of some systematic instruction in these prob- 
lems, parents and teachers are slow to undertake it? Of 
course, the obvious reason is that the task is so difficult 
we naturally shrink from it. But is there not a deeper 



INSTRUCTION IN INTIMATE PROBLEMS 269 

reason? Where such deep-seated, instinctive repug- 
nance exists as is shown toward instructing children in 
these intimate problems there is usually some sound 
justification for it. Even thoughtful and devoted parents 
show this repugnance, which I believe is born of the veil 
of reserve that rightly clothes the deep things of human 
life. That veil is not lightly to be lifted. The people who 
do draw it carelessly are in danger of degrading themselves 
and making their children morbid and precocious. No one 
can treat carelessly a fundamental instinct of the human 
being, such as this that protects the deeps of life, without 
grave harm. 

Nevertheless, we are in no way excusable for abdicating 
our responsibilities and simply drifting. It remains the 
parent's and teacher's shame if the solution of the problem 
is left to vulgar comrades and other chance influences. 
Moreover, if children do not acquire reverently knowledge 
concerning the most intimate functions and relations of 
their lives, they are not only thrown open to the influence 
of evil-minded companions, but are in danger of misunder- 
standing their own instincts as these dawn in consciousness 
and so of responding to them in ways that are destructive. 
The great need, therefore, is that parents, teachers and all 
concerned in the moral education of children should under- 
take the task of giving the needed information, while main- 
taining a reverence for the native veil of modesty that 
should always clothe this aspect of life. 

First of all, it is necessary to cultivate reverence for 
every natural human capacity, if we are to bring the child 
to a sound attitude toward sex and parenthood. The 
notion that the sex life is in itself evil and that marriage is a 
sanctioned indulgence of human weakness has done 



270 MORAL EDUCATION 

infinite harm. Much that we teach by behavior and im- 
pHcation tends to inculcate this false view, whose per- 
sistence in our civilization is the source of great suffering 
and moral degradation. The life of the body is just as 
sound and right as the life of the soul when the one is the 
natural garment of the other. It is only when some 
capacity is affirmed out of true relation to the whole of 
life that it becomes a source of evil. Thus every natural 
power should be regarded as just so much opportunity 
for life when expressed in sane relation to the whole. 
Better the pagan worship of creative forces than a morbid 
dividing of human nature into two parts one of which is 
considered devil-born. 

On the other hand, if the sex life, rightly lived, is sound 
in meaning, it is most important to avoid any precocious 
development of it. Rousseau^ held that it was advisable 
to try to retard the growth of sex-consciousness as long as 
possible ; and if that view be extreme and due probably to 
Rousseau's own morbid experience, certainly the danger 
for the children in our civilization is of too early rather 
than too late a development of sex life. Nowhere else is 
it so necessary that a long period of quiet preparation 
should precede the period of action. Thus we should 
strive to keep the minds of children away from subjects 
which do not yet concern their normal functions and 
actions. Morbidly stimulating literature should be care- 
fully kept away from them. Children's parties that un- 
healthily ape adult society, jests concerning sex-sentiment, 
above all, opportunities for secret talk with precocious com- 
rades should be rigorously avoided; while every native 
interest in healthy outdoor life and vigorous physical 

» See Emile, translated by Payne, pp. 196-197. 



INSTRUCTION IN INTIMATE PROBLEMS 271 

action should be sedulously fostered. I need hardly add 
that the ruinous stimulation coming from unsanitary 
clothing, vicious secret habits, depraved servants and 
companions must be guarded against as the very plague 
morally. 

It is not enough that this protection be accomplished 
for our own children : we must rise to that larger fatherhood 
and motherhood that seeks thus to guard all children. 
The crying shame to us all in the crowded tenements of our 
cities is the lack of privacy of life to protect the inno- 
cence of children. And we cannot escape from being 
'our brother's keeper.' There is no way of guaranteeing 
the safety of our children while we carelessly allow the 
moral plague to spread over child life. 

Further, to avoid precocious development we must 
beware of mistakes in teaching children. Well-inten- 
tioned instruction given too early may be a powerful means 
of fostering morbid curiosity. Everyone has noticed 
the new shy reserve toward each other that boys and girls 
display in the period of transition. Children who had 
previously played together with innocent familiaxity now 
become aware of a kind of spiritual wall, raised between 
the sexes, which cannot easily be broken down. This 
withdrawal and sensitiveness result from the dawn of 
instincts and functions in the child's own life, and indicate 
a new power to take a reverent attitude toward the facts 
of the sex life. Before the individual's own awakening 
such a reverent attitude is impossible. It is always dan- 
gerous to know the facts of life externally without appre- 
ciating their spiritual corollaries, and this appreciation 
depends far more upon one's own life and growth than 
upon any instruction one receives. I have known children 



272 MOKAl. K1>IH'AT10N 

seven years old who h:ul boon tnui2:ht hv * pro<:;ressive ' 
parents all the facts cDTicorning the physical relations of 
marriage. It wonld have been utterly absurd to say that 
the children knew what marriage meant. They had 
merely an external knowledge of certain facts with little 
if any appreciation of the spiritual counterparts that give 
those facts sacredness. They were aware of a means of 
expression with no conception of what was expressed. 
The result was a soiled attitude toward the wdiole problem, 
wnth morbid curiosity stinmlated instead of satisfied. The 
parents could not have done worse, and the re[>ugnance of 
so many fathers and mothers to giving their children any 
instruction whatever in this connectii>n is due, 1 believe, to 
their instinctive sense of this possible harm. It may be 
laid down as an unvarying pedagogical principle that we 
should never know anything we cannot apprcciofc; that is, 
it is always harmful to be brought into contact with ex- 
pressions of life the inner sense of which W'e have no key 
to unlock. If it is sorrow whose garment we see with no 
recognition of the soul that wears it, the result in us may 
be callous contempt; if it is cynicism and despair into 
contact with which we are brought, with no appreciation 
of the experience from which this reaction s})rings, the 
result is often a blighting of our lives. If it is love whose 
clothes we handle with no sense of what they express, the 
result is apt to be the vulgar anil morbid curiosity that is so 
ruinous. 

Thus a child's ipicstions are not, as they are so often 
taken to be, sufKcient proof that he is ready for the full 
answer. When not due to morbid stimulation, they do 
indicate a dawning interest which should be gratified 
rutlici- tlian suppre&>cd; but many times it is wise aiiJ 



INSTRUCTION IN INTIMATE PROBLEMS 273 

necessary to put the child off, making him understand that 
he is by no means ready yet for the answer to his question. 
This can be done without deceiving or angering the child 
and certainly without stimulating a morbid curiosity. 

We dare not wait too long to teach; and here we must 
consider not only the psychological moment ideally, but 
the way in which this is modified by accidental circum- 
stances of the child's life. There is always danger that 
delayed instruction may be anticipated by vulgar com- 
panions, thus multiplying the harm that would come from 
reverent teaching given even far earlier than the child's 
point of growth would warrant. Indeed, the only sure 
protection against evil-minded comrades is for the child 
to know in advance reverently what they would teach 
vulgarly. Thus the parent must keep informed not only 
of the state of his child's inner development, but as far as 
possible, of all the associations that may influence him.^ 

It will thus be seen how indispensable it is to get and 
keep the child's confidence. Little children like to express 
themselves, and with some care on our part there is small 
difficulty in knowing in detail what goes on in their lives. 
In the period of transition from childhood to young man- 
hood and womanhood these confidences become much 
more difficult for the child. He tends to withdraw into 
himself and a new sense of his spiritual isolation from the 
rest of the world comes over him. At the same time 

'See LuDWiG Woltmann, System des Moralischen Bewusstseins, 
pp. 383-387, for an excellent illustrative dialogue with reference to 
sex-teaching. Compare also Earl Barnes, Books and Pamphlets 
Intended to Give Sex-Information, Studies in Education, vol. I, 
pp. 301-308; G. Obici, Les Erreurs de I'fiducation Sexuelle, La 
Revue, vol. XLII, pp. 381-404; E. Lyttleton, Instruction of the 
Young in Sexual Knowledge, International Journal of Ethics, vol, 
IX, pp. 453-467, 



274 MORAL EDUCATION 

dawns a new hunger for union with other lives. As self- 
expression is more difficult, so it is sweeter and more pre- 
cious. If confidences cannot be babbled with the ease of 
the little child, there is a much stronger desire and need 
to give them, and they rarely cease altogether in our chil- 
dren without some fault on our part. The ability to con- 
fide one's inner life to another depends largely upon the 
measure of appreciation one can reasonably expect to re- 
ceive. If we take time and thought to make sure to our 
children that we appreciate sympathetically all that comes 
into their lives and minds, they will normally continue to 
find joy and peace in expressing themselves frankly to us, 
even into the period of young manhood and womanhood.^ 
Thus the parent's problem is to give the child reverent 
knowledge of himself, the functions of his organism, and 
the intimate relations of human life as fast as that knowl- 
edge can be reverently acquired. There is no way of saying 
in advance just how fast that can be. It depends upon the 
character and spirit of the individual child, the nature of 
his inner development, and the circumstances and associa- 
tions of his life. It is no easy task — this of the parent — de- 

> Compare Locke's sound advice with reference to a father's 
reception of his son's confidences : 

" But whatever he consults >ou about, unless it lead to some fatal 
and irremediable Mischief, be sure you advise only as a Friend of 
more Experience; but with your Advice mingle nothing of Com- 
mand or Authority, nor more than j'ou would to your Equal or a 
Stranger. That would be to drive him for ever from any farthtr 
demanding, or receiving Advantage from your Counsel. ^ ou must 
consider that he is a young Man, and has Pleasures and Fancies 
which you are pass'd. You mvist not expect his Inclination should 
be just as yours, nor that at twenty he should have the same thoughts 
you have at fifty. All that you can wish is, that since Youth nuist 
have some Liberty, some Out-leaps, they might be with the Inge- 
nuity of a Son, and under the eye of a Father, and then no very great 
Harm can come of it." — Locke, Some Thoughts concerning Edu- 
cation, edited by Quick, pp. 79-SO. 



INSTRUCTION IN INTIMATE PROBLEMS 275 

manding love, thought, wisdom, unceasing watchfulness 
and care ; but how great is the possible result. By the age 
of three or four years the child can be taught reverence for 
his own body and care in cleanliness. Some children of 
nine or ten can safely be taken into the mother's confi- 
dence with reference to the coming of a younger brother or 
sister. Daughters should invariably be taught by the 
mother the meaning and care of the functions of woman- 
hood before these have matured. Almost equally great is 
the need for the father to teach young boys the meaning 
of their dawning manhood as a protection not only against 
evil comrades and temptations but against the legion of 
criminals who prey upon the young under the guise of 
medical advisers.^ Direct instruction in the question of 
sex-relation should, if possible without incurring graver 
dangers, be postponed until the epoch of the child's own 
physical and moral awakening in the period of transition. 
In all the teaching I must warn against the bad com- 
promise of giving the child a book he may go off to read 
alone. This shirking of parental responsibility is tempting; 
but it serves to weaken the bond of union between par- 
ent and child, which is strengthened by oral teaching wisely 
given, increases the child's secretive tendencies and adds 
the glamor of the half-forbidden to the knowledge gained. 
The instruction of the school may supplement most help- 
fully what is taught by the parent. In botany and zoology 
the child can study, in the simplest, most objective way, 

^ Compare E. G. Lancaster, The Psychology and Pedagogy of 
Adolescence, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. V, pp. 124-125; and G. 
Stanley Hall, Adolescence, vol. I, pp. 4.57-463, for sad details of the 
extent to which boys and yoilng men are victimized and injured 
by medical quacks. These details illustrate impressively the need 
for sound instruction in questions of the sex life. 



27(1 MOUAl. KDUCATION 

the inyslrry of S(\\' and the birth of hfc from life, wltli noth- 
ing of the <Iaii<2;(M* that arises wIumi these [)r()hlenis are 
thouf^ht of in relation to s[)eeifie human beings. Later, 
when the child's life awakens, nature l)eeomes a book of 
teaehini]; which the individual may apply to lunnan life; 
yet that aj)j)lication is rarely made by unsj)()iled children 
earlier than is helpful. 

In hi;^h school and college it becomes j)ossible to take 
up the problems of human life in all the more intimate 
personal relations, and study these directly as subject- 
matter of ethics. It is needless to say that this teaching 
is only a little less diflicult than is the more personal in- 
struction re(|uired of the parent. It demands personal 
soundness in the teacher, reverence for human life and a 
tactful appreciation of young j>eoj)le. Much of the best 
work may be done by indirection. I'\)r instance, the 
literature of })ersonal autobiograi)hy furnishes numerous 
texts which can be made most illuminating in the study 
of the deepest <|uestions of personal life. Similar material 
may be selected from the general field of imaginative 
literature which, if less real than autobiograj)hy, neverthe- 
less presents human life in the same concrete, living form. 

(^uite as im])ortant as the teaching is healthy association 
with persons of the opposite sex. It is the natural min- 
gling of boys and girls, young men and young women, in 
conunon interests and souml activities, that prevents mor- 
bidness and keeps a healthy attitude between the sexes. 
This is the greatest argument for coeducation from the 
beginning to the end of the school course. It is undoubt- 
edly true that certain ends of comradesliij) and esprit dr 
corps are conserved by segregating a group of one sex and 
similar age. These and other reasons may be so strong 



INSTRUCTION IN INTIMATE PROBLEMS 277 

in certain cases as to make coeducation inadvisable. 
But such segregation always involves a great sacrifice, and 
in the main it is the natural association of the two sexes 
in common interests that best safeguards sound develop- 
ment.^ Particular problems arise, such as the frequent 
engagements and marriages occurring in coeducational 
colleges. Yet even these are an advantage rather than 
otherwise. Someone has wisely pointed out that a mar- 
riage made in the class-room is more apt to be permanent 
and happy than one made in the ball-room. Certainly 
nowhere else will more vulgarity of attitude develop than 
among a group of young men constantly denied all associa- 
tion with good women,^ and morbid hysteria breaks out in 
its worst form among boarding-school girls who are ex- 
cluded for a long time from the society of the other sex. 

Further there is need of helpful personal influence on 
the part of all who are associated with children and young 
people, to supplement and at times correct the work of the 

' "There is no country in the world in which the relations between 
the sexes are so simple, natural, free and healthy as in the United 
States, and this, it can hardly be doubted, is largely due to coeduca- 
tion. Nor is it difficult to account for this result. In the class- 
room young men and women learn to know, and, knowing, to respect, 
each other in a way and to a degree hardly possible elsewhere. Each 
sex behaves more humanly because the other is present: each sees 
the other engaged in serious work, — the best way for anybody to be 
seen." — Thomas Davidson, The Ideal Training of the American Girl, 
Foru7n, June, 1898, vol. XXV, p. 474. 

^ " No one can teach boys to respect women but women themselves : 
if a lad or young man is to emerge into manhood with any right ideas 
on the subject whatever, it must be because women themselves have 
put them there." — Ennis Richmond, Through Boyhood to Manhood, 
p. 119. 

" I have had a long and intimate experience of boys of all ages, and 
I do not hesitate to say that no boy or young man goes cleanly 
through his school and college career unless the influence of some 
woman or girl in the concrete, or womankind in the abstract, is 
strong upon him. ' — Ibid., p. 178. 



278 MORAL EDUCATION 

parent. The problem of instruction in the most intimate 
questions of human Ufe belongs peculiarly to the parent; 
nevertheless every teacher, physician, minister, should feel 
that he ought to fulfill in some measure the parental rela- 
tion toward every child who comes under his care. We 
dare never place merely professional limits on the work 
we do for children: all work with children is a mission 
to the human spirit, and must be so regarded if it is to 
be well done. The teacher and minister can hold up 
the hands of the parent, helping him to see the child's 
need and supplementing his work by the right word to the 
child when it will help most. Especially is it possible for 
the physician, whose work is so intimately personal and 
who is so reverenced because of his science and skill, to 
give just the word that will help to brave self-control in 
trying circumstances. Further, all these who stand in less 
intimate relation to the child than the parent must take 
up the latter's work in the spirit of the larger parenthood 
and fulfill it for the child in those sad cases where the par- 
ents are oblivious or careless of their duty. 

Finally, all who share in the work of instruction in these 
most intimate problems of life — parents, teachers, minis- 
ters, physicians alike — must never teach what is false in 
the direction either of prudery or license. Whatever 
measure of instruction we decide it is wise to give children, 
at any stage of development, must be the truth as we see 
it, never altered for reasons of expediency. Only thus 
can we hope to develop in the child the reverent, earnest 
attitude toward the most important questions of human 
life and to hold him to the right, when the trying chapters 
of his life open, by the power of his respect for us and the 
truth we have sought to teach him. 



XXV 

THE RELATION OF MORAL TO RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION 

It is outside the scope of this work to attempt a study 
of the problem of reUgious education. Nevertheless, the 
influence of religion on good conduct is so important that 
it is necessary to show the general relation of our problem 
of moral education to, that of religious culture. 

There is just now a wide awakening of interest in relig- 
ious education. The churches have been impressed 
with their loss of hold on the great masses of the people 
and with the failure of their older methods of work to meet 
the needs of modern industrial and city life. Earnest 
religious people of all sorts of creeds are realizing more and 
more clearly that conversion is not enough, but must be 
supported by education, that the religious life should in- 
volve deliberate cultivation as well as sudden transforma- 
tion. These new ideas came to clear consciousness in the 
addresses given at the Chicago convention called in 1903 
to consider the problem of religious education. The one 
point in common to all the addresses was the recognition 
of the need for new and stronger efforts in the cause the 
speakers came to discuss. 

This new attitude is due largely to the influence of mod- • 
ern psychology. Inductive studies into mental develop- 
ment, especially in the period of transition from childhood 



280 MORAL EDUCATION 

to youth, have shown how intimately changes in the relig- 
ious life of the individual are connected with other normal 
phases of growth, and how all alike are subject to con- 
sciously planned influences.^ In harmony with these more 
recent conceptions new ranges of practical work with chil- 
dren and young people have developed which, while still 
largely in the stage of using devices, give fresh vitality to 
religious influences and are full of promise for even 
greater usefulness in the future. 

With all this new ferment there is still, however, con- 
siderable misconception as to what the task of religious 
education really means, and problems of quite different 
import are confused with each other. More than one of 
the speakers at the Chicago convention assumed the whole 
problem of religious education to mean teaching the Bible 
to children, and one goes so far as to say that there cannot 
be more direct religious teaching in the schools unless the 
laws regarding the use of the Bible in the public schools 
are changed!^ It becomes necessary to define religion 

* Compare: G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence, vol. II, chapter XIV; 
A. H. Daniels, The New Life; E. G. Lancaster, The Psychology 
and Pedagogy of Adolescence; A. C. Ellis, Sunday School Work and 
Bible Study in the Light of Modern Pedagogy; E. D. Starbuck, A 
Study of Conversion, and The Psychology of Religion. 

^ " The law ranges, as you have observed, between absolute prohibi- 
tion of Bible reading; permitting it when no one objects, but not 
otherwise; leaving it to the option of the local authorities, either 
trustees or teacher; and requiring it, either leaving the amount and 
method to the option of the teacher or prescribing a very limited 
amount of reading daily. 

"At the best this is not much — not much of the Bible and almost 
nothing in the way of effective teaching. But it is well to under- 
stand that there are laws governing this matter, and that we are not 
dealing with a question that can be settled off-hand in a religious 
gathering or a teachers' convention. If there is not more direct 
religious teaching in our schools, at least it is not the fault of the 
teachers. Nor can there be more than there is now, unless the laws 



THE RELATION OF MORAL TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 281 

over again, and separate carefully the different problems 
involved in cultivating a religious spirit and attitude. 

There are really two different problems loosely con- 
fused under the general head of religious education. 
There is first the problem of initiating the child into the 
history of religion, especially of the religion that is dom- 
inant in the society to which he belongs. Second, there 
is the problem of inspiring him with a reverently religious 
attitude in his own life. It is evident that these tasks 
overlap, the first contributing to the second; but their 
significance is so different that they should not be con- 
fused. 

The first task is one part of the general work of the his- 
tory of culture. To appreciate the literature, sculpture, 
painting, action and, indeed, all expressions of life during 
these Christian centuries, a knowledge of the basal sources 
of the Christian religion is essential.^ Consider, for in- 
stance, how necessary a knowledge of the Bible is to the 
appreciation of half the paintings in any European gallery. 
As the Bible is the great text-book of Christianity, so it 
is a source from which much of our civilization can be 
explained. The study of the history and sources of the 
religion prevalent in the society about the individual 
should have, therefore, an important place in the work 

are changed. Referring to the reasons I have suggested for the 
enactment of these laws, and with a knowledge of the lurking danger 
of sectarian strife, we cannot escape the conviction that we have 
here a most difficult and delicate problem." — Charles H. Thurber, 
Religious and Moral Education through Public and Private Schools 
in Proceedings of the First Convention of the Religious Education Asso- 
ciation, p. 133. 

1 Obviously the same argument applies to the old Bible in relation 
to subsequent Jewish civilization, or in fact to the sources of any 
•religion prevailing in the society about the child. 



282 MORAL EDUCATION 

we do in the history of culture.^ Moreover, such study, 
no matter how coolly and scientifically undertaken, will 
have some reaction, beneficial in character, on the stu- 
dent's own religious attitude. As we are initiated into 
the spirit of philosophy by studying the history of philos- 
ophy, so all earnest study of the history of religions tends 
to develop in us a reverent religious spirit. 

This reaction on the student's religious attitude which 
results from his study of the history and sources of religion 
is, however, but a fraction of the task of religious education. 
Religion is more than all historic religions, and thus should 
not be identified with any one of them. In this larger 
sense one's religion is one's whole attitude in thought and 
feeling toward the sum of things. As Carlyle has it, 
religion is whatever "a man does practically believe," and 
we must add, feel, "concerning his vital relations to this 
mysterious universe." ^ In this sense religion is eminently 
personal, increasingly so as the mind grows in breadth and 
freedom ; and every earnest man has a religion even though 
he have no affiliations with existing religious organiza- 
tions. 

The first element in the work of religious education, 

' "Christian theology is ten-fold more important to us than the 
pagan, from a purely secular point of view. How can a child read 
Whittier, or how can he understand the period of Henry VIII if he is 
ignorant of theology? How can we teach a child anything of the 
great painters if he lacks the knowledge which alone can give signifi- 
cance to their creations? No one can ever realize how important this 
is until he tries to teach our literature, art and history to Japanese 
or Chinese students. Of course, they lack other keys; but theology 
is one of the most important." — Earl Barnes, Children's Attitude 
Toward Theology, in Studies in Education, vol. II, p. 286. Mr. 
Barnes's study, while taking unusual ground with reference to the 
theological instruction of children, is valuable in connection with the 
whole problem of religious education. 

^ Heroes and Hero-Worship, lecture I. 



THE RELATION OF MORAL TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 283 

interpreted in this larger way, is to waken wonder in the 
presence of the immensity and mystery of the universe, 
awe and reverence in the presence of its majesty, order 
and harmony. Such wonder and reverence characterize 
the distinctively religious attitude as contrasted with the 
smart cynicism which imagines it has solved the universe 
and superficially ignores the deep below deep beyond our 
last sounding. This essentially religious attitude is neces- 
sary to the noblest living. Life needs to be touched with 
the glamor of wonder and deepened with the atmosphere 
of reverence. Men live less by knowledge than by an 
appreciation of what has not yet been gathered up in the 
categories of science. The great experiences of human 
life break in through the closed circle of our knowledge: 
we can never anticipate them in theory. Life precedes 
philosophy: in a very true sense men are better than they 
know, living in experience much that they have not yet 
formulated in terms of the understanding. Thus "mere 
morality," were such conceivable, would mean cold con- 
formity to intellectually recognized principles of conduct, 
with no touch of enthusiasm, no sense of the infinite reach 
of life, no atmosphere of wonder and reverence. Such 
morality is obviously inadequate to the ends of human life, 
and moral education must include the task of cultivating 
this higher religious attitude.^ 

Beyond wonder and reverence, education should foster 
a further element in the higher religious attitude, namely, 

1 "Noble types of character may rest on only the native instincts 
of the soul or even on broadly interpreted utilitarian considerations. 
But if morality without rehgion were only a bloodless corpse or a 
plank in a shipwreck, there is now need enough for teachers to study 
its form, drift, and uses by itself alone." — G. Stanley Hall, Moral 
Education and Will-Training, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. II, p. 77. 



284 MORAL EDUCATION 

the passion for human service. While conduct that is 
helpful to humanity is a noble element of morality, the love 
that inspires such conduct is part of religion. In the same 
sense there is a religion of truth, a religion of art, of work 
and of personal love. Thus the higher religious spirit 
should pervade all aspects of our conduct: life itself 
should become a religion.^ 

This higher religious spirit will be awakened not by 
talking about it, but through the books and people which 
express this spirit and into contact with which the student 
is brought. The religious impulse will come, therefore, 
not as a separate element of instruction, but through the 
whole course of moral education, where this is reverently 
carried out. As literature and history are the great 
expressions of human life available for education, they will 
furnish the important channel for communicating the en- 
thusiasm for humanity, while natural science will equal 
them in arousing wonder and awe in the presence of the 
majesty and order of the universe. 

It is, above all, through persons that the higher religious 
attitude is to be awakened. That is why all who have 
to do with education should be earnestly religious in the 
sense in which I am using the word. There is no limit 
to the extent to which wonder, reverence and love may be 
communicated from one spirit to another, while a ' smart,' 
superficially cynical attitude in the teacher will spoil whole 
groups of students by cutting off the roots of their love and 
enthusiasm before the latter have had time to flower out 
into practice. 

• See the chapter on The Religion of Humanity, in The New 
Humanism, by Edward Howard Griggs, pp. 225-239 (B. W. 
Huebsch, 1904) for a fuller development of this thought. 



THE RELATION OF MORAL TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 285 

Beyond the fostering of this reUgious attitude, there is 
the further problem of the relation of our teaching to 
the great theses of spiritual faith. The four fundamental 
problems of philosophy — God, Immortality, Freedom and 
Duty — are at the same time the questions personal relig- 
ious faith must answer in order to lay a foundation for 
action. The first is the problem of the ultimate source of 
the universe and so of human life. The second is the 
problem of the ultimate end of life. The third is the 
problem of the ultimate nature of the process of life. The 
fourth is the problem of the ultimate law of life. These 
are, indeed, the four aspects of our relation to the uni- 
verse, and what answer we give them is not a matter of 
indifference to the practical life. On the contrary, every 
slightest action is a focusing point in which the answers 
we consciously or unconsciously give to these fundamental 
enigmas find expression. Thus the character of the 
instruction we give children in regard to these four ulti- 
mate problems will have deep importance for the moral 
life. 

The question as to what instruction we should give 
children in this connection must be answered differently 
in public and private schools and in the home. Let me 
consider first the problem in the public school. In certain 
foreign countries the plan has been adopted of allowing 
clergymen of diiferent faiths to teach, for a period each day, 
the groups of children belonging to their confessions. 
Other countries^ have tried the differentiation of the schools 
by residence districts: making one Catholic, another Pro t- 

* See the chapter on Religious Instruction in England, France, 
Germany, and America, by C. Db Gakmo, in Principles of Religious 
Education, by N. M, Butler, et al., pp. 49-75, 



286 MORAL EDUCATION 

estant, according to the religious affiliations of the ma- 
jority of people living in the neighborhood. Fortunately, 
these compromises have not tempted us in America. 
The complete separation of church and state has resulted 
in a general sentiment upholding the complete seculariza- 
tion of the public schools. Evils have undoubtedly fol- 
lowed from this, — some quite unnecessary. For instance, 
it is a pity the Bible has so often been excluded as the text- 
book of certain religions, without recognizing that it may 
be readmitted as a body of noble literature entirely apart 
from any theological explication. Yet in the main the 
result has been far more satisfactory than in the case of 
the various compromises attempted in other lands. Thus 
in our American system it may be laid down as a general 
principle that instructors in the public schools should 
never teach as scientific truth any religious dogma that is 
rejected or questioned by an intelligent portion of the com- 
munity, if only one citizen. This applies to any doctrine, 
no matter how reverently cherished it may be by the 
teacher. The divinity of Christ, the existence of a per- 
sonal God, or the thesis of materialism: whatever the doc- 
trine is, the teacher must never confuse belief and objective 
knowledge, and should never deliberately inculcate beliefs 
which reverent parents hold to be false. 

On the other hand, the teacher should be accorded some 
freedom in the expression of personal beliefs if these are 
not unnecessarily obtruded and are kept strictly within the 
field of belief and not confused with science. The influ- 
ence of a teacher over his pupils is so great that there 
should be wise reserve in thus expressing personal faith, 
yet children cannot learn too early that personal faith is 
the basis of action, and that each thoughtful individual 



THE RELATION OF MORAL TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 287 

has at bottom his own reaction upon the whole of life, 
which may or may not agree in large features with the 
faith of others. 

Thus a teacher can always keep clear the distinction 
between what some men believe and what all know to be 
true, and with careful tact can quite undogmatically incul- 
cate a reverence for all earnest faith, no matter how remote 
its theses may be from the student's or teacher's own atti- 
tude. Moreover, this just reserve in reference to the teach- 
ing of any dogmatic theology need in no way interfere with 
that deeper religious impress — the communication from 
teacher to student of the spirit of wonder and reverence 
in relation to the mystery, order and harmony of the uni- 
verse, and of enthusiasm for human service. 

Private school teachers naturally have much more 
authority in religious instruction than those in the public 
schools, since that authority is directly delegated to them 
by the parents;. and one of the common reasons for choos- 
ing a private school is to secure a certain type of religious 
influence. Thus the problem of religious instruction in 
private schools must be solved variously according to the 
aims of the specific school and its relations with its patrons. 
The teaching, however, must obey the same principles that 
should guide the parent. 

So with the teaching in the Sunday school. This institu- 
tion is unique among all those concerned in the education 
of children, as the only one devoted entirely to ethical and 
religious instruction and inspiration. The Sunday school 
can accomplish little through government and discipline, 
since it has children for so short a time weekly and has so 
slight a hold upon them. It may do something in deter- 
mining social atmosphere, and the personal influence of the 



288 MORAL EDUCATION 

teacher may be very important; but its chief function is 
ethical and religious instruction and inspiration. In this 
respect, therefore, the Sunday school has a rare oppor- 
tunity to supplement and crown the work of the week: 
untrammeled by the conventional aims of the day school, 
its material may be selected and lessons arranged wholly 
with reference to the highest development of the children. 

It is obvious, then, how necessary it is that the teachers 
in the Sunday school should have the best preparation for 
their work, and that the latter should be planned and con- 
ducted in obedience to the best ideas of modern psychology 
and education. That the same didactic lessons should be 
used in the Sunday school for children of all ages is one 
of those anomalous survivals showing that the Sunday 
school has been the last educational institution to respond 
to the influence of the modern spirit.^ It is responding so 
powerfully in many directions today, however, that there 
is even hope its progress may in rare instances outstrip that 
of the secular schools. 

While it is indispensable that a better training of the 
teachers in the Sunday schools should be insured, there 
have been advantages in the fact that the Sunday school 
teacher's contribution has been that of a friend, volun- 
tarily given. The formal study of the day school is quite 
undesirable in the Sunday school, which should stand 
primarily for a touch with life, an awakening of the spirit. 
How far the practice of regularly paying Sunday school 
teachers for their work, if generally adopted, would tend 

* Compare Dawson's study on Children's Interest in the Bible, 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 151-178, showing that different 
parts of the Bible appeal to children of different ages. 

See also G. Stanley Hall, The Moral and Religious Training of 
Children and Adolescents, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. I, pp. 196-210, 



THE RELATION OF MORAL TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 289 

to spoil this quality and reduce the work of the school to 
formalism is an open question. 

Since the Sunday school has so rare an opportunity to 
give inspiration for noble living, as well as religious and 
ethical instr^ action, it should broaden the range of material 
it utilizes. The value we have found history, mythology 
and literature possess in this connection should lead to a 
much wider use of material from these fields in the work 
of the Sunday school. However, the difficulties in the 
way of using the literature of the Bible in secular educa- 
tion give an additional reason for emphasizing in Sunday 
school work material drawn from that source. 

In all the religious teaching children receive in the Sunday 
school, as in private schools, the principles which should 
govern the teacher are, as already indicated, those which 
the parent should obey. To these principles I must now 
turn. For those parents and teachers who rest quietly 
within the limits of a finished creed the situation is far 
more comfortable than for those who are compelled to 
struggle with doubt and questioning. A little while ago 
even radicals fell within the former class. On turning the 
pages of Froebel's Education of Man one is surprised to 
find how simple and clear the problem of religious educa- 
tion seemed to that great reformer. Alas! how many of us 
today are forced, through no choice of our own, into the 
arena, and compelled to struggle ceaselessly for our own 
faith! The great upheaval of thought in modern times, 
rendering the results of science accessible to everyone, 
has led to a general breaking down of old standards and 
landmarks, forcing the average thinking man as completely 
into the intellectual arena as was the philosopher of former 
times. The result is, the problem of religious education for 



290 MORAL EDUCATION 

those who fall within this group centres in discovering what 
we may dare to teach children, on the basis of what we our- 
selves may dare to accept as the foundation of our lives. 

Both classes of parents and teachers need to recognize 
the following guiding principles : 

It is never safe or wise to teach as true that of which we 
ourselves are in doubt. We are often tempted to do this, 
realizing, as we frequently must, that a dogmatic teaching 
received in our childhood has given a moral backbone 
through a later period of liberalized belief. Yet to teach, 
for this ulterior purpose, a creed from which we have 
graduated is most dangerous. If the child comes to react 
against the creed, as he is almost sure to do, his doubt of 
the teaching will be accompanied by the far more blasting 
doubt of the teacher.^ On the other hand it is safe, though 
for further reasons often not advisable, to teach children 
anything we do earnestly believe; for if the child comes 
to doubt the creed, he will nevertheless keep his faith in the 
sincerity of the parent or teacher, and this will be a sheet- 
anchor in the time of storm and stress. 

As in all other phases of instruction, it is necessary to 
consider the stage of the child's development and not 
attempt to force upon him conceptions to which he cannot 
rise.^ To be sure, as there is but one beauty for children 
and adults, so truth is one, but the growth into its appre- 

* "We are not bound to teach children all we know, but we are most 
solemnly bound not to teach them anything which we feel to be 
doubtful as though it were certain, and still more are we bound not to 
teach them anything of which we ourselves begin to suspect the 
reality." — F. W. Farrar, The Higher Criticism and the Teaching 
of the Young, in The Bible and the Child, p. 22. 

^ "All control is wrong that attempts to fetter the child with a man's 
thoughts, a man's motives, or a man's creed." — J. L. Hughes- 
Froebel's Educational Laws, p. 166. 



THE EELATION OF MORAL TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 291 

ciation must be gradual and unhastened. When children 
seven years old get up in prayer-meeting and confess to a 
consciousness of sin and a need of regeneration, this prin- 
ciple has been sadly violated in the religious instruction 
they have received. So the child conceives the world and 
its forces, as we have seen, in terms of personality, and it is 
foolish and futile to attempt to force upon him the abstract 
conceptions in regard to the great theses of spiritual faith 
which are possible to a mature and philosophic mind. 
Thus it is well not to disturb the trusting, naturally 
anthropomorphic attitude of the child, holding definite 
religious instruction in abeyance, and letting it come 
largely by indirection. Yet the period of simple trustful- 
ness naturally passes into that of conscious questioning, 
and we shirk part of our responsibility, when the later 
period comes, unless we do everything in our power to 
help the individual to clarify his thinking and come to 
terms as best he may with the ultimate problems of life. 
Our service here should be to aid and guide the awakening 
mind of the child or youth, rather than to transfer our own 
beliefs didactically to him. Thus it is well to help the 
student to understand as early as possible that faith, if a 
precious working-basis of life, is constantly changing under 
the influence of study and experience. However sure he 
may be or may become with reference to certain basal 
questions, the content of the answers he gives them and the 
whole horizon of his belief will change somewhat with 
every step of his growth, and the complete absence of such 
change would indicate stagnation in the intellectual life. 

It is wise to allow children considerable contact with 
forms of faith other than the parent's own. The only type 
of influence to be rigorously avoided is the superficial 



292 MORAL EDUCATION 

cynicism, the evil effects of which I have already pointed 
out. If this be avoided, a variety of influences will be 
helpful, leading the child to recognize the fact that equally 
earnest and lovable people differ radically on the great 
questions, and helping him to learn toleration by prac- 
tising it. Often the children of liberal parents need such 
contact with a variety of influences, even more than other 
children, in order to escape that worst form of intolerance 
which springs from a reaction against the faiths of others 
and imagines itself quite free from error. 

In all I have said it is evident that two different aims are 
before us in the task of religious instruction. We want 
to aid the child and youth to build as earnest and strong 
a foundation of faith as possible, on which the super- 
structure of noble living may be erected ; at the same time 
we want to keep the individual open to new experience 
and to the new truth, or perspective of truth, which comes 
from it, and thus to make growth, in faith as in conduct, 
deep and long-continued. The fine balance between 
these two elements is difficult indeed to attain. To reach 
or approximate it, inspiration is far more important than 
instruction. The impress of the higher religious spirit 
and attitude, let me repeat, is the great need. If that 
impress is given through all the influences — books, teach- 
ers, parents — to which the child is subjected, we may dare 
to trust life with all its stress and pain, its periods of doubt 
and reaction, and hope that through all may remain the 
influence of wonder, reverence and enthusiasm to trans- 
figure the moral life. 



CONCLUSION 

Our work together now draws to a close. We have 
studied the aim of moral education and the great forces 
and influences we may utilize in developing the noblest 
human life. We hope for no kingdom of heaven from 
the education advocated, even were it put into immediate 
and universal application: we may trust that every step 
in fostering such culture in one individual will make life 
more joyous and helpful and better worth while for him 
and for all others. Increasing self-mastery and intelligent, 
free response to the order of the universe should come from 
such education, with an ever greater power to recover 
from the mistakes and marring faults of our yesterdays. 
Thus endless power of growth may be our heritage, growth 
toward the highest that is ever higher as we climb. 

To give such education, the one requisite behind all 
others is that we be willing to give ourselves to our children. 
The wise guidance of the chijd's activities in work and 
play, the regulation of the environing conditions that in- 
fluence him, the helpful conduct of government and dis- 
cipline, the direct and indirect instruction we give him, 
as well as the most helpful personal influence, all depend 
upon daily, continuous and loving companionship with 
our children. Without such companionship we cannot 
even understand the problem, much less contribute to its 
solution. Some parents and teachers give this com- 
panionship without thought or effort, enjoying by nature 



294 MORAL EDUCATION 

every phase of it. Others find far less pleasure in joining 
children in work and play; and such parents and teachers 
must plan consciously to give the measure of companion- 
ship with their children indispensable to all good influence. 
To turn children over almost entirely to hired servants, 
seeing the children but occasionally, as some parents do, 
is really to abandon the problem of moral education. 
Whether easy or difficult for us, it is only as the friends 
and comrades of our children that we can establish a moral 
atmosphere in which any influence can work helpfully. 

Education is difficult, almost as difficult as life. Mean- 
while, every parent and teacher is face to face with the 
problem, and it presses for immediate solution at every 
step. No matter what progress education may make in 
the future, for the children with whom we are associated 
'now is the acceptable time of the Lord,' and there is no 
other. Each moment presents its own opportunity for 
just one moment; gone, it is irrevocable. We must sum- 
mon all our courage, gird up our spirits, use all the wis- 
dom we have, but strive now, trusting that with all our 
weakness and limitations, the great universe will cooperate 
with us if we earnestly do our best. 

For all that we give how great is the return! Every 
worker in the field of adult education knows how much 
more the teacher is taught than the student. The greatest 
value of the social settlement has been to the social settler; 
the university-extension lecturer learns more from his 
audience than he can ever hope to teach them; while the 
minister, the reformer, the neighborhood visitor, find life 
illuminated, deepened and sweetened for them by the ser- 
vice they seek to do. It is in our work with children that 
this principle of the return of the good deed upon the doer 



CONCLUSION 295 

finds its highest application. It is the moral education of 
the parent and the teacher that is achieved far more than 
that of the child. How we are educated in self-control, 
patience, quiet putting aside of our selfish whims, by all the 
effort we put forth to educate morally our children! 

Those who are not blessed with children often look pity- 
ingly at the over-burdened parent, wondering how he 
(it is more often she) can go on so cheerfully, accepting 
the seemingly impossible task without chafing under it. 
They do not understand, these unblessed people on the 
outside, unless a loving heart expressed in loving service 
of little children has made them share in the larger mother- 
hood and fatherhood. But every wise parent, who is the 
friend and companion of his child, knows that "children 
pay their way as they go." It is not that they will 
return in our age the^ care we have given to their child- 
hood: no, but that now, day by day, the child does 
more in educating the parent than the most devoted 
parent can do for the child. Living, as we have found 
children do, in the presence of the great verities not var- 
nished over with the conventions of our adult life, children 
bring us constantly into the presence of these eternal bases 
of life. It is thus that the child is a missionary to fallen 
humanity. It is thus the child world reacts ever upon 
the adult world, bringing it back to truth and beauty and 
love and song. It was said: "Except ye become as little 
children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
Surely no one ever saw into that kingdom of the spirit 
without looking through the eyes of a little child; and the 
patient, consistent care and love, the gift of time, thought 
and companionship, the earnest seeking of the child's best 
good through all the doubt, trouble, questioning and mi 



296 MORAL EDUCATION 

takes that must come — all this is repaid — how wonder- 
fully ! — by the vistas of the spirit that are opened up to 
us, the softened tenderness of our own hearts, the deepest 
wisdom of experience, and the unlocking of all the mystery 
of joy and tears. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Note to Students. — The aim has not been to make the follow- 
ing bibliography all-inclusive, but to give a practical working list 
of the best books and articles bearing on the aspects of moral 
education treated in this volume. Material of no value has been 
rigorously excluded, together with books and articles quite super- 
seded by more recent work. Emphasis has of course been placed 
on the literature of the subject in English. The bibliography has 
been frankly annotated with the aim of making it more practically 
helpful to students. Publishers' names, with place and date of 
publication, are given in the foot-notes only where the books or 
articles referred to are not listed in the bibliography. 

Abbott, Jacob. Gentle Measures in the Management and Training 

of the Young. Pp. 330. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1872. 

Excellent in its day and, though somewhat old-fashioned, still helpful. 

A Lecture on Moral Education delivered in Boston, 

before the American Institute of Instruction, August 26, 1831. 
Pp. 22. Hilliard, Gray, Little & Wilkins, Boston, 1831. 

An interesting early example of the effort to apply the principle of 
self-government in school discipline. 

The Teacher: Moral Influences Employed in the 



Instruction and Government of the Young. Pp. 353. Harper & 
Brothers, New York, 1856. 

Good common sense and benevolent counsel with concrete illustra- 
tion. Coming from the period of the first strong reaction in America 
against physical force in education. 

Adams, John. Relation of the School Studies to Moral Training. 
In Third Year Book of the National Herbart Society, pp. 
73-100. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1897. 

Addams, Jane. Democracy and Social Ethics. Pp. ix-|-2Sl. The 
Macmillan Co., New York, 1902. 

An ex:cellent presentation, on the basis of appreciative experience, of 
the social problem moral education must strive to meet. 



298 MORAL EDUCATION 

Addams, Jane, et. al. Philanthrojnj and Social Progress. Seven 
Essays delivered before the School of Applied Ethics, Plymouth, 
Mass", 1892. Pp. xi+268. T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York, 
1893. 

An excellent book by several leaders in social reform, illuminating 
the whole social and educational uroblem. The first two chapters by 
Miss Addams, — I, The Subjecti\e Necessity for [social Settlements; and 
II, The Objective Value of a Social Settlement, — are especially valuable. 

Adler, Felix. The Moral Instruction of Children. Pp. xiii+270. 
International Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 
1895. 

The best book in the field of ethical instruction. Presents interest- 
ingly a mass of loosely graded material, drawn from the Bible, myth- 
ology and folk-lore. Somewhat too free in changing and adapting 
primitive material. 

The Moral Instruction of the Young. Reprint from 

The Ethical Record, vol. II, pp. 83-97. Philadelphia, July 1889. 
A brief preUminary statement of Professor Adler's scheme of ethical 
instruction. 

Aldrich, Auretta Roys. Children: Their Models and Critics. Pp. v-f 
158. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1893. 

An expression of the modern kindergarten movement. Good in 
taking the child's point of view, but fails to recognize the hard, strength- 
giving elements of life. Recommends too much 'managing' of children. 

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. Story of a Bad Boy. Pp. iv-f 261. Plough- 
ton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1892. 

A pleasant story of childhood, probably largely autobiographical. 
Good in showing the value of the natural relations of boys to each other. 

Allen, Ezra. The Pedagogy of Myth in the Grades. In Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. VIII, pp. 258-277. Worcester, June 1901. 
Attempts to answer three questions, ' The Why, the How and the 
What of Myth in the Grades.' Some valuable lists. 

Amicis, Edmondo de. The Heart of a Boy ; (Cuore) A Schoolboy's 
Journal. Translated by G. Mantellini. Pp. 290. Laird & 
Lee, Chicago, (copyright) 1899. 

A charming story of Italian school-boy life, with direct moral lessons. 
One of the best books available on moral education, and might be used 
as a text for ethical instruction. 

Aristotle. Politics. Translated with an analysis and critical 
notes by J. E. C. Welldon. Pp. xcvi+412. The Macmillan 
Co., New York, 1897. 

See especially book IV, chapters XIV-XVII, and all of book V. Aris- 
totle's Nicomachean Ethics (translated with an analyis and critical notea 
by J. E. C. Welldon, pp. lxvii + 3.52, the Macmillan Co., New York. 
1892), while containing no definite treatment of education, is of perma- 
nent value in defining the type of character education ahould foster, and 
in emphasizing the value of moral habit. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 299 



Bain, Alexander. Education as a Science. Pp. xxvii4-453. 
The International Scientific Series, D. Appleton & Co., New 
York, 1902. 

See chapter XII, pp. 398-424, on Moral Education. Good but slight 
treatment including outline of ethical instruction. 

Baker, James H. Education and Life: Papers and Addresses. 
Pp. x+254. Longmans, Green, & Co., New York, 1900. 

See pp. 92-102, "Moral Training," and pp. 103-115, "Can Virtue 
Be Taught." Pleasant general discussion. 

Baldwin, James Mark. Mental Development in the Child and the 
Race: Methods and Processes. Pp. xvi-j-496. The Macmillan 
Co., New York, 1895. 

An excellent, theoretic discussion, much of it bearing indirectly on 
moral education, as in the treatment of Habit, Accommodation, and 
VoUtion. 

Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental 

Development: A Study in Social Psychology. Pp. xiv-|-574. 
The Macmillan Co., New York, 1897. 

As in the previous volume, portions indirectly touching moral educa- 
tion; little directly deaUng with the problem, except the brief chapter 
on Play. 

Baldwin, Joseph. Psychology Applied to the Art of Teaching. 
Pp. xiv+389. International Education Series, D. Appleton 
& Co., New York, 1897. 

A meager and somewhat old-fashioned text-book. Occasional helpful 
suggestions. 

Ballantine, W. G. Religious and Moral Education through Chris- 
tian Associations and Young People's Societies. In Proceedings 
of the Religious Education Association, 1903, pp. 148-156. 
Executive Office of the Association, Chicago, 1903. 

Barnes, Anna Kohler. Children's Ideas of Lady and Gentlemar,. 
In Studies in Education, edited by Earl Barnes, vol. II, pp. 
141-150. 

An inductive study comparing EngUsh and American school children, 
with conclusions touching the influence of democracy and social environ- 
ment on character. 

Barnes, Earl. Books and Pamphlets Intended to Give Sex-In- 
formation. In Studies in Education, edited by Earl Barnes, 
vol. I, pp. 301-308. 

— — The Child as a Social Factor. In Studies in Educa- 
tion, edited by Earl Barnes, vol. I, pp. 355-360. 

Children's Attitude Towards Theology. In Studies 

in Education, edited by Earl Barnes, vol. II, pp. 283-307. 

Reviews previous studies by Mr. Barnes and others. Takes radical 
ground as to the need of teaching children the theology in which Christian 
civilization is rooted. In reaction, though from the evolutionary view- 
point, against the extreme secularization of American education. 



300 MORAL EDUCATION 



Children's Ideals. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 
VII, pp. 1-12. Worcester, April 1900. 

An inductive study based on 2,100 papers from London children. Com- 
parisons with resiilts from previous American study. The conclusions 
interesting for moral education. See further: "Children's Attitude 
Toward Future Occupations," in Sttidies in Education, vol. II, pp. 243- 
258; the "Type Study on Ideals," running through nine numbers of 
Stvdies in Education, vol. II; and "Ideals of New York Kindergarten 
Children," in Kindergarten Magazine, October 1903, pp. 86-100. The 
last is the only important inductive study yet made in the ideals of 
children under seven or eight years of age. 

— The Development of Children's Political Ideas; and 

Political Ideas of American Children. In Studies in Education, 
edited by Earl Barnes, vol. II, pp. 5-30. 

Two statistical studies into children's ideals. The longer study deals 
with papers of English children wishing to be like Queen Victoria; the 
briefer with the attitude of American children toward President McKinley. 

Punishment as Seen hy Children. In Pedagogical 



Seminar}', vol. Ill, pp. 235-245. Worcester, October 1895. 

An inductive study of children's views of just and unjust punishment. 
Its conductions are suggestive with reference to discipline. Compare: 
Mr. Barnes's later study on "The Growth of Social Judgment," Studies 
in Education, vol. II, pp. 203-217; and the type study on "Discipline," 
running through eight numbers of Studies in Education, vol. I. 

Editor, Studies in Education, vol. I, second edition, 

pp. 400, Philadelphia, 1903; vol. II, pp. ii+400, Philadel- 
phia, 1902. Published by the editor. 

These two volumes represent, with the inductive studies in the Peda- 
gogical Seminary, the best work yet done in the statistical study of 
children. Many of the studies are by the editor, and the rest are by hia 
students. The second volume is especially illuminating in the compara- 
tive studies of American and English children. Many of the studies in 
both volumes and much of the etlitor's interpretative comment bear 
directly on the problem of moral education. 

Barnett, P. A. Common Sense in Education and Teaching: An 
Introduction to Practice. Pp. ix+321. Longmans, Green, & 
Co., New York, 1S99. 

See especially chapter II, The Discipline of Character. Modern, 
loosely comprehensive. 

— — Editor. Teaching and Organization ; with Special 



Reference to Secondary Schools; A Manual of Practice. Pp. xix^- 
419. Longmans, Green, & Co., New York, 1897. 

An excellent general manual by several British authorities. See 
especially articles on: "The Criteria in Education," pp. 1-13; "Organiza- 
tion and Curricula," pp. 14-33; "Form Management," pp. 293-312; 
"Health and Physical Culture," pp. 356-383. 

Barrows, W. Teaching of Morals in the Public Schools. In New 
Englander, vol. XLIII, pp. S40-S50. New Haven, November 
1S84. 

Review of Massachusetts laws and practice. Advocates non-sectarian 
moral instruction in public schools. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 301 

Bartlett, Elisha. The Head and the Heart, or the Relative Im- 
portance of Intellectual and Moral Education. A lecture, de- 
livered before the American Institute of Instruction, in Lowell, 
August 1838. Pp. 20. Ticknor & Co., Boston, 1838. 

An effective appeal for moral as against merely intellectual education. 
Superseded, but interesting in showing how old is the demand for the 
culture of character in Anverican education. 

Bashkirtsefl, Marie. The Journal of a Young Artist. Trans- 
lated by Mary J. Serrano. Pp. viii+434. Cassell&Co., New 
York, (copyright) 1889. 

Full of concrete material bearing on the moral influence of environ- 
ment, — personal _ and social, — books, travel. Especially valuable for 
moral education in the period of youthful reaction. 

Beebe, Katherine. The First School Year; For Primary Workers. 
Pp. 147. The Werner Co., Chicago, (copyright) 1895. 

A bright, simple exposition of thought based on the kindergarten. 
Occasional suggestions for moral education. 

Bell, Sanford. A Study of the Teacher's Influence. In Peda- 
gogical Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 492-525. Worcester, 1900. 

A study based on answers, furnished by students in normal school and 
college, to a questionnaire. Suggestive results with reference to the 
personal influence of teachers over young people. 

Betts, Lillian W. The Leaven in a Great City. Pp. vi+315. 
Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1902. 

Interesting concrete account of New York social conditions in tene- 
ment houses, working-girls' clubs, home life and social settlements. Val- 
uable, like the books of Jacob Riis, in showing the new moral problems 
presented by modern city life. 

The Story of an East-Side Family. Pp. iii-f 342. 

Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1903. 

A story of the whole history of a unit family among those struggling 
with poverty, overcrowding and drunkenness in the poorer quarters of 
a great city. Presents one great social phase of the problem of moral 
education. 

Bierbower, Austin. Ethics for Schools. Pp. 294. Hinds & Noble, 
New York, (copyright) 1903. 
Conventional analysis of duties. Intended as a text for high schools. 

Bikkers, Alex. V. W., and Hatton, Joseph. Ethics for Unde- 
nominational Schools. Translated from the German of Dr. 
Wilhelm Fricke . . . and adapted to the Use of English 
Schools»and Families. Pp. 156. Grant & Co., London, 1872. 

An interesting older attempt to make a text-book for the ethical in- 
struction of children. Resembles the French manuals. Didactic 
lessons, illustrated by maxima and quotations (sources not given), 
with detailed explanations. 

Blackall, C. R. .. Sunday School Organization for the Purpose 
of Religious Instruction. In Proceedings of the Religious 
Education Association, 1903, pp. 175-185. Executive Office 
of the. Association, Chicago, 1903. 



302 MORAL EDUCATION 

Blackwell, Elizabeth. Counsel to Parents on the Moral Educa- 
tion of Their Children, in Relation to Sex. Pp. 160. Hatch- 
ards, London, 1882. 

One of the best books available on the instruction of children in the 
intimate problems of human life. Occasional over-statement, but in the 
main sound in spirit. 

Blow, Susan E. The Kindergarten Ideal of Nurture. In Report 
of the Commissioner of Education for 1902, vol. I, pp. 594- 
602. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1903. 

Excellent statement of the aims of the kindergarten, with answers to 
some misconceptions and criticisms. 

— Letters to a MotJier on the Philosophy of Froebel. 

Pp. xix+311. International Education Series, D. Appleton 
& Co., New York, 1899. 

Follows Symbolic Education in a more conversational style. 

— Symbolie Education. A commentary on Froe- 

bel's "Mother Play." Pp. xvi+251. International Education 
Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1895. 

One of the best modern interpretations of Froebel, modified by 
Hegelianism. 

Bohannon, E. W. A Study of Peculiar and Exceptional Children. 
In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. IV, pp. 3-60. Worcester, Octo- 
ber 1896. 

An inductive study based on 1,04.5 answers to a questionnaire. Aims 
to aid teachers to understand the individual child. Some helpful 
pedagogical conclusions. 

Bondois, Marguerite. L' Enseignement de VHistoire et la Morale. 
In Revue Universitaire, Ann^e 10, pp. 333-338. 1901. 

A criticism of the indiscriminate teaching of historical facts without 
making pupils aware of the moral meaning of history. Claims that 
thus admiration for mere power and brilliancy is awakeaed. 

Boutwell, George S. Thoughts on Educational Topics and In- 
stitutions. Pp. 365. Phillips, Sampson & Co., Boston, 1859. 

Expression of the old-time educational leadership in Massachusetts. 
Echoes of the struggle to show that free schools are not immoral nor a 
menace to the public: interesting in the light of the recently revived 
discussion of religion in the schools. 

Bowker, Richard Rogers. The Arts of Life. Pp. viii-f306. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1900. 
See especially "Of Education," pp. 49-95. 

Brackett, Anna C, Editor. The Education of American Girls, 
Considered in a Series of Essays. Pp. 401. G. P. Putnam's 
Sons, New York, 1874. 

By distinguished leaders of the woman's movement a quarter of a 
century agf), and written mainly in answer to Dr. E. H. Clarke. Kohoes 
from the flood-tide of the coeducation movement: well worth re-reading 
now that the ebb-tide is quietly setting in. Much bearing incidentally 
on moral education. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 303 

Bracq, Jean Charlemagne. Moral and Religious Instruction in 
France. In Educational Review, vol. XXIII, pp. 325-337. 
New York, April 1902. 

An excellent brief review of the present program of ethical instruction 
in the public schools of France. Lists of French text-books given in 
notes. 

Braun, Th. Principes d' Education et d^ Instruction Populaire. 
Pp. 219. A. Jamar, Brussels, 1S50. 

Excellent in its day and still of value. Gives a general view of educa- 
tion in home and school, with specific counsel to parents and teachers 
regarding discipline. 

Briggs, Le Baron Russell. School, College and Character. Pp. 
vi-|-148. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1901. 

A sane protest against some extremes of the new education. Empha- 
sizes work and discipline. 

Some Old-fashioned Doubts about 

New-fashioned Education. In Atlantic Monthly, vol. LXXXVI, 
pp. 463-470. Boston, October 1900. 

An expression of the reaction against the elective system and the 
new education. A suggestive article with implications throughout for 
moral education. 

Brockman, F. S. A Study of the Moral and Religious Life of 
251 Preparatory Students in the United States. In Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. IX, pp. 255-273. Worcester, September 
1902. 

The most important conclusion of this inductive study is its emphasis 
of the need of instructing boys in the intimate problems of human life. 

Brunetiere, F. Education et Instruction. Pp. 107. Didot et 
Cie., Paris, 1895. 

A stimulating little book, opposing commercialism, athletics and 
specialization in education, and urging the cultivation^ of socraZ virtues 
and ideals. If prejudiced in its negative contentions, in its affirmative 
ones it is fine and noble. 

Bryan, E. B. Nascent Stages afid Their Pedagogical Significance. 
In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 357-396. Worcester, 
October 1900. 

An effort to gather up the results and point the educational applications 
of the various studies of genetic development previously made. Describes 
the periods of growth, and is especially strong in suggestions for the 
treatment of childhood. 

Bryant, Sophie. Educational Ends; or, The Ideal of Personal 
Development. Pp. x+292. Longmans, Green, & Co., London, 

1887. 

A theoretic ethical discussion seeking to outline the educational ideal 
in intellect and character. 

Short Studies in Character. Pp. vii+247. The 



Macmillan Co., New York. No date. 

A book composed of lectures. Part II (pp. 139-247) containa some 
excellent, suggestive chapters on moral education. 



304 MORAL EDUCATION 

Buck, Gertrude. Another Phase of the New Education. In 
Forum, vol. XXII, pp. 376-384. New York, November 1896. 
Describes the 'culture-epoch school' experiment in Detroit. 

Buck, Winifred. Boys' Self-Governing Clubs. Pp. ix-|-218. The 
Macmillan Co., New York, 1903. 

An excellent study of the value of clubs for boys, with full information 
and counsel as to forming and guiding them. 

Buisson, F. Education of the Will. Closing lecture of the Course 
in Pedagogy delivered at the Sorbonne, 1S99. In Report of 
the Commissioner of Education for 1902, vol. I, pp. 721-740. 
Government Printing Office, Washington, 1903. 

Gives a condensed statement of Buisson's philosophy of moral educa- 
tion in relation to French life. 

— Editor. Dictionnaire de Pedagogie et d' Instruction 

Primaire. Part I, 2 vols., pp. 3,108; and part II, 2 vols., pp. 
vii+2491. Hachette et Cie., Paris, 1SS2-1888. 

The firBt part of this great work is devoted to educational theory and 
history, the second part to practical applications. See articles under 
the various headings of moral education, as " DiscipUne Scolaire," 
" Punitions," " Ob^issance," etc. 

Bulkley, Julia E. Social Ethics in the Schools. In Forum, vol. 
XXVI, pp. 615-620. New York, January 1899. 

A good article; opposed to corporal punishment in schools; advocates 
direct teaching of social ethics as a means of discipline. 

Burdette, Robert J., et al. Before He is Twenty. Five Per- 
plexing Phases of the Boy Question Considered. Pp. 104. The 
Fleming H. Revell Co., Chicago, (copyright) 1894. 

Popular papers by various writers. The first, The Father and Hia 
Boy, is the one of most value for moral education. 

Burk, Frederic L. Teasing and Bullying. In Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. IV, pp. 336-371. Worcester, April 1897. 

An inductive study, presenting a large amount of painful material 
expressing the darker side of children's activities. The conclusions are 
all in the form of questions, but suggest important investigations and 
reflections. 

Burnhara, William H. The Study of Adolescence. In Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. I, pp. 174-195. Worcester, 1891. 

A helpful article, tentative but full of suggestions for other workers. 

Butler, N. M., Editor. Education in the United States. A Series 
of Monographs prepared for the United States Exhibit at the 
Paris Exposition, 1900, 2 vols., pp. xviii4-977. The J. B. Lyon 
Co., Albany, N. Y., 1900. 

An excellent general survey of present American education in its 
different aspects. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 305 

Butler, N. M., et al. Principles of Religious Education. I^ectures 
delivered under the Auspices of the Sunday School Commission 
of the Diocese of Nev.^ York. Pp. xx-|-292. Longmans, Green, 
& Co., New York, 1900. 

An interesting expression of the new interest in religious education. 
See especially Lectures I, III, VIL VIII. 

Carlyle, Thomas. Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr 

Teufelsdroeckh. Pp. iv+228. Chapman & Hall, London, 1S93. 

This work, both as Carlyle's spiritual autobiography and as a reflective 
study of life and education, contains much that is of great value in con- 
nection with the problems of moral culture. Book II deals most 
directly with education. 

Carpenter, Edward. Affection in Education. In International Jour- 
nal of Ethics, vol. IX, no. 4, pp. 482-494. Philadelphia, July 
1899. 

An excellent article showing the moral value of healthy school friend- 
ships in contrast to unwise repression and vicious association. Helpful 
in connection with education in questions of sex. 

Carr, J. W. Religious and Moral Education through Public and 
Private Schools. In Proceedings of the Religious Education 
Association, 1903, pp. 138-147. 
Cams, Paul. The Moral Education of Children. -Jn Open Court, 
vol. XIII, pp. 17&-184. Chicago, March 1899. 

Deals with education in truth, prudence and love of animals. Frag- 
mentary but sensible. 

Cash, Miss K. G. Children's Sense of Truth. In Studies in 
Education, edited by Earl Barnes, vol. II, pp. 308-313. 

A brief inductive study with conclusions as to the significance and 
treatment of children's lies. 
Chace, Mrs. E. B. Teaching of Morality in Schools. In Education, 
vol. IV, pp. 15-24. Boston, September 1883. 

Advocates ethical instruction and discussion in the schools. 

Chamberlain, Alex. Francis. The Child: A Study in the Evolu- 
tion of Man. Pp. xii+498. The Walter Scott Publishing Co., 
London, 1900. 

A mass of facts and views bearing on child development, collected 
from the evolutionary point of view and loosely organized. Much of 
the book has an indirect value for moral education. 

Chambers, Will Grant. The Evolution of Ideals. In Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. X, pp. 101-143. Worcester, March 1903. 

A study of the same character as those by Miss Darrah and Mr. Barnes. 
Throws interesting light on the ideals of children at different stages of 
development. 

Chandler, Mary G. The Elements of Character. Pp. 234. Crosby, 
Nichols & Co., Boston, 1854. 

An interesting old book of essays reminding one of Emerson. Empha- 
sizes the unity of character and the need of training thought, imagination 
and affection in relation to each other. Evidently radical in its day and 
still sound and helpful. 



306 MORAL EDUCATION 

Chenery, Susan. As the Twig is Bent: A Story for Mothers and 
Teachers. Pp. 164. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1901. 

A good, simple discussion of the concrete handling of two children in 
the home. 

Clark, Kate Upson. Bringing Up Boys. Pp. 227. T. Y. Crowell 
& Co., New York, 1899. 

Practical counsel on the treatment of boys in the home. Sound in the 
main, and always bright and suggestive. 

Clarke, Edward H. Sex in Edv.ca.tion; or, A Fair Chance for Girls. 
Pp. 181. Osgood & Co., Boston, 1874. 

One of the thoughtful books of the last generation, by a physician, 
urging the necessity of a special regimen for girls if coeducation is not 
to harm the development of sane womanhood. 

Clarke, James Freeman. Self-Culture : Physical, Intellectual, 
Moral, and Spiritual. A Course of Lectures. Pp. 446. Os- 
good & Co., Boston, ISSO. 

Scattered through the book is a good deal of helpful suggestion bear- 
ing on moral education. 

Coe, George A. The Spiritual Life: Studies in the Science of Re- 
ligion. Pp. 279. Eaton & Mains, New York, 1900. 

One of the recent helpful studies of the religious life, undertaken in a 
scientific spirit. Indirectly of value with reference to religious and 
moral education in the period of youthful awakening. 

Coeducation of the Sexes in the United States. In Report of 
the United States Commissioner of Education for 1900-1901, vol. 
II, pp. 1217-1315. Government Printing Office, Washington, 
1902. 

An exhaustive review of the present situation in the United States in 
regard to coeducation, with citations of views from educational authori- 
ties, American and foreign. Contains a good bibliography of the subject. 

Coit, Stanton. Neighbourhood Guilds, an Instrument of Social Re- 
form. Pp. x+150. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1S92. 

Discussion of a London experiment having important bearings on 
moral education. 

Combe, Andrew. The Management of Infancy, Physiological and 
Moral, Intended Chiefly for the Use of Parents. Pp. 302. D. 
Appleton & Co., New York, 1871. 

Excellent in its day, but largely superseded. Pp. 239-276 deal tiiore 
directly with moral education. 

Comenius, John Amos. The Great Didactic. Translated by M. W. 
Keatinge. Pp. 468. Adam and Charles Black, London, 1896. 

Interesting not only as the basis of subsequent educational reform, 
but because much of it is still of value. Imbued with a religious spirit 
and containing chapters dealing with phases of morul and religious 
education. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 307 

School of Infancy; An Essay on the Educa- 
tion of Youth During the First Six Years. Translated by 
Daniel Benham; revised and edited with an introduction and 
notes by Will S. Monroe. Pp. xvi+99. Heath's Pedagogical 
Librarj', D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1896. 
See especially Chapter IX on Moral Training. 

Compayr^, Gabriel. Development of the Child, in Later Infancy, 
Being part II of The Intellectual and Moral Development of the 
Child. Translated by Mary E. Wilson. Pp. xxxi+300. In- 
ternational Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York. 
1902. 

EUments d' Instruction Morale et Civique, 

(degre elementaire) , — recits, exemples, preceptes, parables, fables. 
Pp. vi+138. Paul Delaplane, Paris, 1882 (?). 

One of the French text-books for the ethical instruction of children. 
Each lesson is based on a short story followed by reflections and ques- 
tions. 

The Intellectual and Moral Development of 



the Child, part I. Translated by Mary E. Wilson. Pp. ix-f 
298. (For part II, see Compayr^, Development of the Child 
in Later Infancy.) International Education Series, D. Apple- 
ton & Co., New York, 1896. 

An indirect bearing on moral education. 

Lectures on Pedagogy. Translated by W. 



H.Payne. Pp. x+491. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1890. 

See especially part I, chapter X, Moral Education; and part II, chap- 
ters VIII, Morals and Civic Instruction; XI, Rewards and Punishments; 
and XII, Disciphne in General. 

Psychology Applied to Education. Trans- 



lated by W. H. Payne. Pp. ix+216. Heath's Pedagogical 
Library, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1893. 

Chapters XI-XIV, in division C, deal with moral education. 

"C" (Cox, Mrs. James Farley). Home Thoughts. Pp. 311. 
A. S. Barnes &Co., New York, 1901. 

Popular and sUght, but containing many helpful suggestions on the 
home training of children. 

■ Home Thoughts, Second Series. Pp. xii4- 

340. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York, 1902. 
Crooker, Joseph Henrjf. Religious Freedom in American Educa- 
tion. Pp. ix-f216. American Unitarian Association, Boston, 
1903. 
Croswell, J. R. Amusements of Worcester School Children. In 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VI, pp. 314-371. Worcester, Sep- 
tember 1899. 

A study based on the answers of 2,000 children to a questionnaire. 
Valuable educational applica;fions, especially in reference to the adapta- 
tion of play to different periods of development. Bibhography, 



308 MORAL EDUCATION 

Currie, James. The Principles and Practice of Common School 
Education. Pp. xiii+424. Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, 18S4. 

A fair text-book, but witli little hold on real life. Part I, chapters 
II and III, deals with Moral Education; and part II, chapter II, with 
Discipline. 

• The Principles and Practice of Early and Infant 

School Education. Pp. xvi+285. Kellogg & Co., Mew York, 
1887. 

Good sense, but rather commonplace. See for moral education, part 
I, chapters II, III, IV, IX, X; part III, chapters IV, V. 

Curtis, Henry S. Vacation Schools, Playgrounds, and Settlements. 
Advance sheets from the Report of the Commissioner of Educa- 
tion for 1903. Pp. 38. Government Printing Office, Washing- 
ton, 1901. 

Excellent. Touches the general problem of play in moral education, 
and the influence of the social atmosphere. 

Daniels, Arthur H. The New Life: A Study of Regeneration. In 
American Journal of Psychology, vol. VI, pp. 61-106. Wor- 
cester, October 1893. 

One of the many studies of adolescence inspired by President Hall. 
Good but superseded by President Hall's recent work. Shows connec- 
tion of spiritual and physical changes in the period. 

Darrah, Estelle M. (Mrs. C. B. Dyke) Children's Attitude 
toward Law. In Studies in Education, edited by Earl Barnes, 
vol. I, pp. 213-216; pp. 254-258. 

Two brief inductive studies, with an important bearing on discipline. 

A Study of Children's Ideals. In Popular 

Science Monthly, vol. LIII, pp. 88-98. New York, May 1898. 
One of the earliest statistical studies in this fertile field. 

Davidson, Thomas. The Education of the Greek People; and its 
Influence on Civilization. Pp. xiv-f-229. International Edu- 
cation Series, D. Appleton & Co., New Y'ork, 1894. 

The first chapter on "Nature and Education " and the summing up of 
the last chapter are especially full of stimulating conceptions, presenting 
an original and interesting philosophy of education. 

A History of Education. Pp. 292. Charles 

Scribner's Sons, New Y'ork, 1900. 

Chapter I, Introductory, and division III, chapter IV, The Outlook, 
have a general bearing on moral education. 

The Ideal Training of the American Girl. 



In Forum, vol. XXV, pp. 471-480. New York, June 1898. 
An admirable article, especially strong in advocating a truer spirit of 
democracy in our higher education. 

Davies, Henry. The New Psychology and the Moral Training of 
Children. In International Journal of Ethics, vol. X, no. 4, 
pp. 493-503. Philadelphia, July 1900. 

An attempt at a review and criticism of the relation of the new psy- 
chology to moral education. Sugge.siive but incomplete in view. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 

Dawson, George E. Children's Interest in the Bible. In Peda- 
gogical Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 151-178. Worcester, 1900. 
A study applying to children's interest in the Bible the same methods 
already employed by other inductive investigators of children's interests. 
Conclusions illuminating with reference to the curriculum of the Sunday 
school and of religious education generally. 



— A Study in Youthful Degeneracy. In Peda- 
gogical Seminary, vol. IV, pp. 221-258. Worcester, December 
1896. 

A study of 60 ' juvenile delinquents,' classifying their characteristics 
and studying the causes of their crimes. Contains a few conclusions of 
value for the larger problem of moral education in society. 

Day, Thomas. The History of Sandford and Merton. Pp. xii + 388. 
Ward, Lock, Bowden, & Co., London. No date. 

A typical 18th Century book for children, "replete with information, 
of unimpeachable morality," (from Preliminary Sketch of the Life of 
Thomas Day). Really a charming book in spite of its morality. 

Defoe, Daniel. The Family Instructor, in Five Parts, and a 
Variety of Cases on the Necessity of Setting Proper Examples 
to Children and Servants. Two vols., pp. x + 393 and xi + 403. 
Talboys, Oxford, 1841. 

Quaint old volumes of dialogue between different members of a family 
in which the father and mother seek suddenly to reform the children. 
Deeply pious in intention, but written with racy vigor of style. Chief 
interest historical. 

De Garmo, Charles. Ethical Training in the Public Schools. In 
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
vol. II, pp. 577-599. Philadelphia, 1892. 

An excellent, thoughtful contribution. Considers the moral effect 
of life under institutional forms, and the value of history, literature and 
illustrations from practical life in enforcing ethical teaching. 

Social Aspects of Moral Education. In 



Third Year Book of National Herbart Society, pp. 35-57. 
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1897. 

Considers the social aim in education, and opportunities in the school, 
through its organization and its studies, to further that aim. 

Dewey, John. The Chaos in Moral Training. In Popular Sci- 
ence Monthly, vol. XLV, pp. 433-443. New York, August 1894. 

A brief article showing the chaos in the popular mind with reference 
to the sanctions of good conduct. 

Ethical Principles Underlying Education. In 



Third Year Book of National Herbart Society, pp. 7-34. Uni- 
versity of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1897. 

An admirable condensed article dealing with the fundamental^ prin- 
ciples of moral education, urging especially reform in the direction of 
preparing for social life by helping the child to practise its activities. 



310 MORAL EDUCATION 



The School and Society. Supplemented by a 

statement of the (Chicago) University Elementary School. 
Pp. 129. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1900. 

Contains much helpfiil suggestion bearing on moral education through 
activity. 

Dilthey, Karl. Moralisches Gdngelhand fiir Kinder. Dialogen 
fiir Kinder. Pp. 230. Langbein & Kluger, Rudolstadt, 1799. 
Pleasant and bright moral dialogues between father and children. 

Dismorr, Blanche. Ought Children to be Paid for Domestic Ser- 
vices? In Studies in Education, edited by Earl Barnes, vol. II, 
pp. 62-70. 

Dodge, M. A. (See Hamilton, Gail.) 

Dole, Charles F. The American Citizen. Pp. xvi + 326 + 42. D. C. 
Heath &Co., Boston, 1894. 

For children and young people. Portions of the book deal with 
social and economic duties. 

— The Young Citizen. Pp. xv + 194. D. C. Heath 



&Co., Boston, 1899. 

An excellent little book, brightly written, gi\'ing a simple statement of 
social and public morals with reference to the duties and opportunities 
of ser\-ice children have. Well illustrated, with notes under the illustra- 
tions making them an instructive part of the work. 

Depp, Katherine Elizabeth. The Place of Industries in Ele- 
mentary Education. Pp. 208. University of Chicago Press, 
Chicago, 1903. 

Considers comparatively the development of the child and the race 
in regard to industrial activities, with important applications to educa- 
tion. 

Du Bois, Patterson. Beckonings from. Little Hands. Pp. xiii-f- 
166. John D. Wattles & Co., Philadelphia, 1895. 

Exquisite, simple interpretation of childhood written with delicate 
sensitiveness to the tragedies and joys of children. Concrete incidents 
from a father's experience. 

■ — The Natural Way in Moral Training. Pp. 

328. The Fleming H. Revell Co., Chicago, (copyright) 1903. 

_ Deals with the appUcation to the moral and spiritual field of the prin- 
ciples of bodily growth through atmosphere, light, food and exercise. 
Urges a more natural method in moral and religious education. 

Dutton, Samuel T. School Management. Practical Suggestions 
concerning the Conduct and Life of the School. Pp. xv-|-278. 
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1903. 

Social Phases of Education in the School and the 



Home. Pp. ix-F259. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1900. 
General papers, many of them touching phases of moral education. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 311 

Ebers, Georg. The Story of My Life from Childhood to Manhood. 
Translated by Mary J. Safford. Pp. viii + 3S2. D. Appleton 
&Co., New York, 1S93. 

Especially interesting because Ebers's early education was in the 
Froebel Institute, at Keilhau. Thus one of the best available opportu- 
nities for studying Froebel' s ideas in practice. 

Eby, F. The Reconstruction of the Kindergarten. In Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 229-286. Worcester, July 1900. 

A suggestive study of the kindergarten from the point of view of 
genetic psychology. 
Edgeworth, Maria, and Edgeworth, Richard Lovell. Practical 
Education. Two volumes in one. Pp. 332 and 312. T. B. 
Wait & Sons, Boston, 1815. 

Excellent common sense, often pungently stated. While largely 

superseded, still useful through the vigor with which ideas are expressed 

and illustrated. 

Egidy, M. von. Gedanken. vher Erziehung In Sammlung pa- 

dagogische Vortrage, vol. X, no. 6, pp. 127—147. Address in 

Berlin Lehrverein, 21 May, 1897. 

A fine, popular address, urging the substitution of free for compelled 
action in education, as peace and its ideals are substituted for war. 

Eliot, Charles "W. Educational Reform. Essays and Addresses. 
Pp. ix+418. The Century Co., New York, 1898. 

Represents the various phases of President EUot's leadership in educa- 
tion. See especially chapter XVIII, The Function of Education in 
Democratic Society. 

— More Money for the Public Schools. Pp. 193 

Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1903. 
Three admirable addresses dealing respectively with the failure of Ameri- 
can public education, advances in recent years, and the next desirable 
steps. 
Ellis, A. Caswell. Suggestions for a Philosophy of Education. 
In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. V, pp. 159—201. Worcester, 

October 1897. ..,. . 

An attempt to gather up the results of the child study movement 
and apply these to the general problem of education. 

— Sunday School Work and Bible Study in the Light 

of Modern Pedagogy. In Pedagogical Seminarv, vol. Ill, pp. 
363 — ii2. Worcester, June 1896. 

Contains a suggestive outline of the child's moral and religious unfold- 
ing. Advocates allowing the lower characteristics to develop at periods 
of growth with the idea that so they will pass off. Sketch of the Sunday 
school. Bibliography. 

_ and Hall, G. Stanley. A Study of Dolls. In 

Pedagogical Seminary, vol. IV, pp. 129—175. Worcester, 

December 1896. . . -n • 

Based on answers to a widely circulated questionnaire, borne illumi- 
nating pedagogical conclusions. Certain of these quite contradict the 
traditional notions regarding the meaning of play with -dolls. Advo- 
cates much wider use and more careful direction of doll play by parents 
and teachers. 



312 MORAL EDUCATION 



Etaerson, Ralph Waldo. Education. In Lectures and Bio- 
graphical Sketches, vol. X of Emerson's complete works. 
Riverside edition, pp. 123 — 156. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
Boston, (copyright) 1883. 

Everett, C. C. Ethics for Young People. Pp. iv+185. Ginn & 
Co., Boston, 1891. 

Didactic lessons giving an analysis of duties, with general illustrations 
and kindly moralizing. 

Farrar, F. W., et al. The Bible and the Child. Pp. vii + 171. 
The Macmillan Co., New York, 189G. 

A discussion, by various religious leaders, of the effect of the 'Higher 
Criticism' on teaching the Bible to children. 

Fitch, Joshua G. Educational Aims and Methods. Pp. xii+448. 
University Press, Cambridge (Eng.), 1900. 

General lectures. See chapter III, The Evolution of Character, and 
chapter XIII, The Sunday School of the Future. 

— Thomas and Matthew Arnold and Their 

Influence on English Education. Pp. ix + 277. The Great Edu- 
cators Series, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1899. 

Chapter V, pp. 75-109, deals with Thomas Arnold's methods of gov- 
ernment and discipline. 

Forbush, William Byron. The Boy Problem, A Studri in Social 
Pedagogy. Pp. 20(). The Pilgrim Press, Boston, 1901. 

An enthusiastic book embodying the results of practical experience in 
religious work with young boys. Centres on plans for boys' clubs. 



The Social Pedagogy of Boyhood. In 

Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 307 — 346. Worcester, 
October 1900. 

An article anticipating the author's book. Reviews applications of 
genetic psychology to the 'Boy Problem,' and suggests practical methods 
and expedients in deaUng with boys. 

Fouillee, Alfred. Education from a National Standpoint. Trans- 
lated and edited by W. J. Greenstreet. Pp. xvi + 332. Inter- 
national Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 
1892. 

A corrective to hasty generalizations from science and evolution, con- 
taininii; a strong argument against merely utilitarian education in favor 
of moral culture. While somewhat of a special plea, the book is modern 
and suggestive with reference to the whole problem of moral education. 

Les Jeunes Criminels. L'Ecole et la Presse. In 

Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. 139, pp. 417 — 449. Paris, Jan- 
uary 15, 1897. 

A thoughtful article dwelling on the criminal suggestion in licentious 
literature as a chief cause of the increase of crime among children and 
youth. Emphasizes moral education as the main corrective. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 313 

Freai, Carbline. Class Punishment. In Studies in Education, 
edited by Earl Barnes, vol. I, pp. 332—337. 

A brief inductive study of the attitudeeof children toward punishing a 
class as a whole. Some appUcations to the problem of discipline. 

French, C. W, The Problem of School Government. In School 
Review, April 8, 1900, pp. 201—212. University of Chicago 
Press, Chicago, 1900. 

An excellent article — one of the few studies recognizing that the 
problem of .school government is one of moral education. States that 
in America school government should be American, eocial, and moral in 
effect upon character. 

Froebel, Friedrich Wilhelm August, Education by Development. 
The Second Part of the Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. 
Translated by Josephine Jarvis. Pp. xxvi + 347. Interna- 
tional Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1899. 

More miscellaneous than the essays in the Pedagogics of the Kinder- 
garten, but illuminating for Froebel's principles, returning again and 
again to education through self-activity. 

The Education of Man. 

Translated by W. N. Hailmann. Pp. xxv + 332. Interna- 
tional Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1892. 

The central work with reference to Froebel's philosophy which focuses 
always on moral education. 

■" Letters on the Kindergarten. 

Translated and edited by Emilie Michaelis and H. K. Moore. 
Pp. xi + 331. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1891. 

Miscellaneous letters selected by Mme. Froebel and H. Poesche, the 
German editor, as throwing light on the kindergarten and Froebel's 
philosophy in relation to it. 

The Mottoes and Commen- 
taries of Froebel's Mother Play. Translated by Henrietta R. 
Eliot and Susan E. Blow, with an introduction treating of 
the philosophy of Froebel by Susan E. Blow. Pp. xxii + 316. 
International Education Series, D. Appleton & Co. , New York 
1895. 

Pedagogics of the Kinder- 
garten. Translated by Josephine Jarvis. Pp. xxxvii + 337 
-hxiii. International Education Series, D. Appleton & Co , 
New York, 1899. 

_ Contains fifteen of Froebel's essays dealing with play and the educa- 
tional meamng of the "Gifts" and the plays of children. 

Gardener, Helen H, Facts and Fictions of Life. Pp. 269. C. H. 
Kerr & Co., Chicago, 1893. 

Contains a great deal on the relation of heredity to morality. Advo- 
cates teaching children and young people the truth about life and people. 
Much of the book has an indirect bearing on moral education. 



8U MORAL EDUCATION 

Garlick, A. H. .4 AV»' Afanual of Method. Pp. xx + 378. Long- 
mans, droon, it Co., Now York, 1S97. 

Text-book. See I'lmptors I, School Kconomy; and II, Disoiplino. 

Garrison, Wendell P. Porahlcs for School and Home. Pp. xv + 
211. LongiUiins, Greon. & Co., Now York, 1S97. 
Matorial of some value for ethical instruction. 

Giles, Arthur E. Moral Patholoiju. Pp. viii + 179. Charles 
Scribnor's ^^oiis. New York, 1S05. 

A good .snlijoot !\ml iilost. poorly dovelopoil. Some helpful sugRestions 
under "Mor.-il llygieiu'." H.nther .slight and forced conipurisous in detail 
between physical and moral mediciue. 

Oilman, Charlotte Perkins (Stetson). 'Coturniing Children. Pp. 
298. t^niall, Maynard A: Co., Hoston, 1900. 

Kresh and sugnostive but one-sided. Sound counsel in reaction 
ngivinst conventional educatii>n in the home. The dogma of heredity is 
overworked and iiuostionable inferences are drawn from 'science.' 
Some of the euros susiJested indicate limited experience with children. 

Gilman, Nicholas Paine, and Jackson, Edward Payson. Con- 
duct OS a Fine Art. Containing The Laws of Daih/ Conduct, pp. 
vi + 1-19, bv N. P. Cxihnan; and Character Buildinij, pp. viii4- 
230, by E."P. Jackson, llonghton, Milllin & Co., Boston, 1S91. 

Two ess-^ys Vecoiving the prize offered by the .American Secular I'nion 
for the best trcati.se aiding tcaciiors to instruct diihlrcn and youth in 
morality without inculcating religion. The first treatise gives an 
analysis ami dassilication of ordinary ethicd conceptions; the second 
consists of rather sprightly didactic dialogue between Dr. Dix and his 
pupils. 

Gilson, Roy Rolfe. In the Morning Glow. Short Stories. Pp. 
187. Harper it Brothers., Now York, 1902. 

Exquisite interpretation of childhood; belongs to the best modern 
artistic work revealing child life sympathetictUly for an adult auiiience. 

Girardey, Ferreol. Popular Instructions to Parents on the Bring- 
ing tip of Children. Pp. 202. Benziger Bros., New York, 
1897. 

An excellent, simple Rom.an Catholi* n\anual for parents; restfully 
certain in its theses. I'mphasizes religious triuuing and the sending of 
children to Uomau Catholic schools. 

Goddard, Henry H. Negative Ideals. In Studies in Education, 
oditotl by Karl P^arnos, vol. II, pp. 392— 39S. 

Complementary to the numerous positive studies in children's ideals: 
seeks to discover the etliical dislikes of children. Pedagogical appli- 
cations. 

Goethe, J. W. von. Autobiography and Annals. Translated by 
John Oxonford. et al. 'IVo vols., pp. viii + 520 and 501. 
George Boll it Sons, London, 1S91. 

The earlier portions of the .Atttcbioffraphij are full of ilhmunating 
material and freijuent wise thought on the problem of n\oral education. 
The whole work is one of the most instructive in the entire lield of per- 
sonal autobiography. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 316 



— — Wilhdm Meister's Apprenticeship and Trav- 

eh. Translated by Thomas Carlyle. Two vols., pp. xxiii-f- 
420 and 469. Critical introduction by P^dward JJowden. 
Edited with notes by Clement Kinf^ Shorter. Masterpieces 
of Foreign Authors Series, A. C. MoClurg & Co., Chicago, 1890. 

Of value not only as ofjntainiri;? Goethe's direct treatiwe on education, 
but hecauHC the work is filled with illurninatiug windom in regard to all 
aspectH of culture and perHonal life. 

Gorst, Harold E. The Curse of Education. Pp. vi + 144. G. 
Richards, London, 1901. 

Very reactir)nary, re)?arding all educational ByBtems in operation at 
present as worse than useless, because crararriinj? with information and 
destroying pnviar to think. One-sided but suggestive criticism. 

Grahame, Kenneth. Dream Days. Pp. 228. John Lane, New York, 
1898. 

Excellent interpretation of child life for adults. Value in giving 
sympathy with the spirit and attitude of childhood. The Dragon Storv 
is a good example of what not to tell children, since it deals with legend- 
ary material in a way that seerns bright to the adult but irreverent to 
the child. 

The Golden Age. Pp. vii + 241. John Lane, 

New York, 1898. 

Delightful interpretative fiction showing the child's dream-world. 
PossiVjly sornewhat overdrawn as compared with every-day children, 
but helpful in awakening sympathy for the child's point of view. 

Gr6ard, Oct. Education et Instruction. Enseiqnement Secondaire. 
, Two vols., pp. 350 and 339. Hachette et Cie. Paris, 1889. 

See especially vol. II, pp. 163-2.3.5, L'Esprit de Discipline dans 
ritducation; and pp. 2.37-272, L'liducation Morale et I'^^ducation 
Physicjue dans lea Lycdes. 

Green, Sanford M. Crime: Its Nature, Causes, Treatment, and 
Prevention. Pp. 346. The J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 
1889. 

An excellent modem view by a life-long judge in Michigan. Advo- 
cates education as treatment and prevention of crime and argues against 
all retributive punishment. 

Groos, Karl. The Play of Man. Translated with the author's 
cooperation by Elizabeth L. Baldwin. Pp. ix-j-412. D. Appleton 
& Co., New York, 1901. 

A thorough, scientific study. Play exhaustively described and classi- 
fied. Especial value for moral education in the pedagogical inferences, 
pp. 398-406. 

Gulick, Luther. Psychological, Pedagogical and Religious Aspects 
of Group Games. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VI, pp. 13.S- 
151. Worcester, March 1899. 

Urges that games of Anglo-Saxon boys are forceful, objective, involve 
organization and h';ro-worhhip, and that religion must utilize these 
tendencies in its educational activities. 



316 MORAL EDUCATION 

Guyau, J. M. Education and Heredity. Translated from second 
edition by "W. J. Greenstreet, with an introduction by G. F. 
Stout. Pp. xxiv + 306. The Contemporary Science Series. 
The Walter Scott Pub. Co., London, 1891. 

Full of suggestions bearing on moral education. Contains an ex- 
cellent discussion of punishment from the medico-scientific point of view 
and considers the use of suggestion in dealing with children. 

H. H. (pseudonym of Jackson, Helen Hunt.) Bits of Talk about 
Home Matters. Pp. viii + 239. Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1873. 
Good counsel, much of it bearing on treatment of children within the 
home. Fine in sentiment. 

Hailmann, W, N. Moral Results in School Training. In Educa- 
tion, vol. 4, pp. 415-426. Boston, March 1884. 

An excellent article, in hearty sympathy with the best in the ' new 
education,' and broad in suggestions on the whole field of moral 
culture. Opposed to the report of the Committee to the National 
Council of Education in 1883 (see W. A. Mowry). Advocates intel- 
lectual ethical instruction. 

Hale, Edward Everett. Hoiv I was Educated. In Forum, vol. I, 
pp. 55-63. New York, I\Iarch 1886. 

Following the article by Dr. Hale are some ten others, running through 
vols. I and II of the Forum, on the same subject by prominent leaders 
in education. The series is especially illuminating in showing the value 
of non-scholastic influences in molding character. 

A Nero England Boyhood, and Other Bits 



of Autobiography. Pp. xxvi + 500. Little, Brown, & Co. 
Boston, 1900. 

Hall, Frank O, Religion in the Home. In Proceedings of the 
Seventh Annual Meeting of the Congress of Religion, held at 
Buffalo, N. Y., June— July, 1901, pp. 12-1-142, including 
discussion by W. C. Gannett and L. G. Janes. Unity Publish- 
ing Co., Chicago. No date. 

Hall, G. Stanley. Adolescence. Its Psychology and its Relation 
to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion 
and Education. Two vols., pp. xxi -1-589 and vi-f7S4. D. 
Appleton & Co., New York, 1904. 

A masterpiece. Outrivals any previous work in massing facts bearing 
on all aspects of genetic development. Great, as all President Hall's 
work, not only in the accumulation of material, but in a prodigal wealth 
of ideas stimulating to other minds. Valuable for nearly all aspects of 
moral education, but especially for education in religion and instruction 
in the intimate problems of human hfe. 

— Moral Education and Will-training. In 

Pedagogical Seminary, vol. II, pp. 72-S9. Worcester, 1892. 

Reprinted from the Princeton Review, New Series, vol. X, pp. 306— 
325, November 1882, where the same article appears under the title. 
The Education of the Will. A strong article dealing with souie 
fundamentals of moral education. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 317 



- — The Moral and Religious Training of Children 

and Adolescents. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. I, pp. 196-210. 
Worcester, 1891. 

A part of the same article appears in earlier form in the Princeton 
Review, New Series, vol. IX, pp. 26-48, January 1882. A fragmentary 
but illuminating study expressing certain of the ideas subsequently 
worked out in more complete form in President Hall's Adolescence. 

- — Some Fundamental Principles of Sunday School 

and Bible Teaching. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VIII, 
pp. 439-468. Worcester, December 1901. 

An application of the results of modern psychology to the problem of 
the curriculum and teaching in the Sunday school, and an appeal for 
reform in harmony with these principles. Excellent. 

- — Some Social Aspects of Education. In Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. IX, pp. 81-91. Worcester, March 1902. 

An address given before the Harvard Teachers' Union. Shows the 
existing social implications of the school and advocates the conscious 
extension of its possibilities in the same directions. 

- — The Story of a Sand Pile. In Scribner's Maga- 
zine, vol. Ill, pp. 690-696. New York, June 1888. 

A descriptive study in the educational value of play activities. 

A Study of Fears. In American Journal of 



Psychology, vol. VIII, pp. 147-249. Worcester, January 1897. 

A suggestive inductive study with some conclusions as to the place of 
fear in education. 

Hamerton, Philip Gilbert. The Intellectual Life. Pp. xix+455. 
Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1891. 

See part II, The Moral Basis, and part III, Of Education. 

Hamilton, Gail. (Pseudonym of M. A. Dodge.) Nursery Noon- 
ings. Pp. 310. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1875. 

Miscellaneous counsel on the treatment of children. Pleasant and 
helpful, taking throughout the child's point of view. 

Hanus, Paul H. Educational Aims and Educational Values. Pp. 
vii+211. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1899. 

"A progressive attempt ... to disentangle from the contemporary 
educational confusion, in both theory and practice, our educational aims, 
and to examine these aims in the Ught of present and future needs." 
— Preface. 

— A Modern School. Pp. x+306. The Macmillan 

Co., New York, 1904. 

Loosely connected essays, several bearing in a general way on moral 
education. See especially chapters I, A Modern School; V, The School 
and the Home; VI, Our Faith in Education. 

Harris, W. T. Moral Education in the Common Schools. In Jour- 
nal of Social Science, no. 18, pp. 122-134. New York, 1884. 

Address before the American Social Science Association, September 4, 
1883. Deals with the opportunities of the public school to train childreQ 
in the three types of virtue, "mechanical, social, celestial." 



318 MORAL EDUCATION 



Moral Education in the Public Schools. Pp. 20. 



E. Steiger, New York, 1877. 

Reprinted from Dr. Harris's Report for 1871, as Superintendent of St. 
Louis public schools. Discusses the range of moral training possible in 
pubUc schools and advocates our present system of secular education. 

— The Philosophy of Crime and Punishment. Pp. 20. 

Publisher? 1890? 

An address read before the National Prison Association of the United 
States, at Cincinnati, Ohio, September, 1890. Bearing on the relation 
of education to crime and on the moral significance of discipline in home 
and school. 

— Psychologic Foundations of Education — an A ttempt 

to Show the Genesis of the Higher Faculties of the Mind. Pp. 
xxxv+400. International Education Series, D. Appleton & 
Co., New York, 1898. 

Has only a general reference to the problem of moral education. 

— The Relation of School Discipline to Moral Educa- 



tion. In Third Year Book of the National Herbart Society, 
pp. 58—72. Prepared for discussion at the Milwaukee meet- 
ing of the National Educational Association, 1897. University 
of Chicago Press, Chicago 1897. 

The same article is reprinted in the New York Teachers' Monographs, 
Class Manageinent Number, pp. 1-10, New York, March 1900. An 
excellent article, dealing with the phases of moral training possible 
through the organization and discipline of the school, and representing 
Dr. Harris's latest views in this connection. 

Harrison, Elizabeth. Some Silent Teachers. Pp. 187. The Sigma 
Publishing Company, Chicago, (copyright) 190-4. 

Deals with the influence and meaning of shop-windows, architecture, 
color and hterature. 

A Study of Child-Nature from the Kinder- 
garten Standpoint. Pp. 207. Chicago Kindergarten College, 
Chicago, 1895. 

A good modern expression of Froebel's influence, in harmony with the 
spirit of the new education. Emphasizes kindness, sympathy and 
appreciation of the individual child, with positive methods of moral 
ciilture. 

Harrison, Frederic, and Adler, Felix. The Relation of Ethical 

Culture to Religion and Philosophy. In InternationalJournal 

of Ethics, vol. IV, no. 3, pp. 335-347. Philadelphia, April 1894. 

An interesting discussion: Mr. Harrison advocating, from the posi- 

tivist point of view, the teaching of religion and philosophy; Professor 

Adler holding that ethics has its own sanctions, and that the separation 

of ethics from religion may be complete. 

Haskell, Ellen M. Imitation in Children. In Pedagogical Sem- 
inary, vol. Ill, pp. 30-47. Worcester, October 1894. 

^ A mass of unclassified instances with comments. Makes for sympathy 
■with child life and contains a strong plea for freedom for the child. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 319 



Henry, Alice. The Special Moral Training of Girls. In Inter- 
national Journal of Ethics, vol. XIV, pp. 1-15. Philadelphia, 
October 1903. 

A brief article written as a companion study to that by Canon Lyttle- 
ton on " The Instruction of the Young in Sexual Knowledge." 

Henderson, C. Hanford. Education and the Larger Life. Pp. 
386. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1902. 

In radical reaction against present tendencies in education. Opti- 
mistic and full of faith in the higher human Ufe. While regarding life 
rather from the point of view of the segregated few, without recognizing 
sufficiently the inexorable necessities under which the many struggle, 
the book is sane in spirit and contains much helpful suggestion with 
reference to educational reform. 

Herbart, Johann Friedrich. Herbart's A B C of Sense-Percep- 
tion and Minor Pedagogical Works. Translated, with intro- 
duction, notes, and commentary, by Wm. J. Eckoff. Pp. xxxi 
+288. International Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., 
New York, 1896. 

Little direct bearing on moral education except in certain of the minor 
writings; see especially that on The Esthetic Revelation of the Universe. 

Letters and Lectures on Education. 

. . . Translated from the German . . . by H. M. and E. 
Felkin and with a preface by O. Browning. Pp. xvi+285. 
C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y., 1898. 

An excellent introduction to Herbart's general educational philosophy, 
with a wealth of wise observations on the control and guidance of chil- 
dren. 



— Outlines of Educational Doctrine. 

Translated by A. F. Lange; annotated by Charles De Garmo. 
Pp. xi+334. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1901. 

"Herbart's latest, and also his most complete work on education." 
An outline text-book. A large part deals with aspects of moral 
education, especially government and discipline. 

The Science of Education. Trans- 



lated by H. M. and E. Felkin. Pp. xvii+268. D. C. Heath 
& Co., Boston, 1893. 

A large part of this important work deals directly with the various 
aspects of moral education. 

Hinsdale, B. A. Studies in Education: Science, Art, History. Pp. 
384. Werner School Book Co., Chicago, (copyright) 1896. 
See chapter XI, The Moral and Religious Training of Children. Other 
papers touch the same problem. 

Holman, H. Education. An Introduction to its Principles and 
their Psychological Foundations. Pp. xii+536. Isbister & Co., 
London, 1896. 

An attempt at a general philosophy of education on the basis of mod- 
ern science. Sonie value for moral education. 



320 MORAL EDUCATION 



Hopkins, Louisa Parsons. The Spirit of the New Education. 
Pp. 282. Lee & Shepard, Boston, 1892. 

Popular lectures, fine in spirit, resulting from experience and in bne 
with the best in the new education. See especially: The Moral Probltiu 
in the Public Schools, pp. 50-59; Education of the Soul, pp. 60-/i; 
Character as an Object of School Education, pp. 72-101. 

Howerth, I. W. Development of the Social Aim in Education. In 
Journal of Pedagogy, vol. XII, pp. 230-242; vol. XIII, pp. 102- 
109, 169-180. Syracuse, N. Y., December 1899, October 1900, 
January 1901. 

A suggestive sketch of what the author considers the five stages in the 
development of educational ideals in America: (1) Religious, (2) Political, 
(3) Economic, (4) Moral, (5) Social. 

Howland, George. Practical Hints for the Teachers of Public 
Schools. Pp. xii4-202. International Education Series, D. 
Appleton & Co., New York, 1895. 

Sftme value in the chapters dealing with moral education and the 
teacher's influence. 

Hughes, James L. Dickens as an Educator. Pp. xi + 319. Inter- 
national Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1901. 

An excellent account of the influence of Dickens, fully illustrated by 
selections. Deals with coercion, nutrition, child nature, training, etc. 

— Froebd's Educational Laws. Pp. xiii + 296. 

International Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 
1897. 

Good chapters bearing on moral education. See especially : V, Play as 
an Educational Factor; VI, The Harmony between Control and Spon- 
taneity; X, IndividuaUty and Self-Expression; and XIII, Froebel's 
Ethical Principles. 

Mistakes in Teaching. Pp. 135. C. W. 



Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y., 1895. 
Hughes, R. E. The Making of Citizens. A Study in Comparative 
Education. Pp. viii4-405. Contemporary Science Series, The 
Walter Scott Publishing Company, London, 1902. 

A valuable comparative study of the school systems of England, Ger- 
many, France and the United States. 

Hughes, Thomas. Tom Brown's School Days. Pp. xvi+357. 
A. L. Burt, New York. No date. 

One of the best expressions of the moral methods and influence of 
Thomas Arnold. 

Humphreys, Mary Gay. The Smallest Republic in the World. In 
McClure's Magazine, vol. IX, pp. 735-747. New York, July 1897. 
A readable popular article on The George Junior Republic. Illus- 
trated. 

Huntington, James O. S. Chapters IV and V, pp. 98-204 in 
Philanthropy and Social Progress, by Jane Addams, et al.: 
IV, Philanthropy — Its Success and Failure; V, Philanthropy 
and Morality, t. Y. Crow ell & Co., New York, 1893 (?). 

An admirable arraignment of the errors and insincerities of modern 
philanthropy, throwing light on the larger problem of moral education. 
Unusually frank and truthful in spirit. 

\ 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 321 



Hyde, William De Witt. Practical Idealism. Pp. xi + 335. The 
Macmillan Co., New York, 1897. 

Fine in spirit and contains much bearing incidentally on moral 
education. 

James, William. The Principles of Psychology. Two vols., pp. 
xii + 689 and vi + 704. Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1899. 

See, in this illuminating and suggestive work, especially chapter IV, on 
Habit, which is an impressive ethical sermon on a fundamental problem 
of moral education. 

Talks to Teachers. Pp. xi + 301. Henry Holt & 

Co., New York, 1899. 

Excellent, fresh, suggestive applications of psychology to education 
and hfe. 

Varieties of Religious Experience. Pp. xii + 534. 

Longmans, Green, & Co., New York, 1903. 

The main value of the work for moral education lies in showing the 
transforming power of religious experience in giving purpose, purity and 
joy to human life. 

Jegi, John I. Children's Ambitions. In Transactions of the 
Illinois Society for Child Study, edited by Charles H. Thur- 
ber, vol. Ill, pp. 131-144. University of Chicago Press, Chic- 
ago, October 1898. 

An inductive study with a review of previous studies in the same field, 
and educational applications. 

Johnson, George E. Play in Character Building. In How to 
Help Boys, vol. Ill, no. 4, pp. 239-253. Boston, October 
1903. 

An excellent article discussing play in relation to the theory of evolu- 
tion, urging that eacii phase of development needs its own expression. 

— Education by Plays and Games. In Peda- 
gogical Seminary, vol. Ill, pp. 97-133. Worcester, October 
1894. 

"The object of this study is to present somewhat more concretely than 
has been done before the educational value of play, and to suggest some 
practical apphcations to the work of education in the grades above the 
kindergarten." Suggests a graded course of games. A rather miscella- 
neous but suggestive study. 

Jolly, William, Editor. Education: Its Principles and Practice 
as Developed by George Combe. Pp. xxvi + 772. Macmillan & 
Co., London, 1879. 

Compiled from pamphlets and manuscripts of Combe, the great 
phrenologist. Contains much on training moral and mental "faculties." 
Out of date, but excellent in its time. 

Keferstein, Horst. Volksbildung und Volksbildner. Pada- 

gogisches Magazin, no. 121. Pp. ix + 38. Langensalza, 1899. 

A general review, inclusive but brief and sUght, of the instruments of 

education. Especially good in emphasizing the need for cooperation 

on the part of home and school, parents and teachers. 



322 MORAL EDUCATION 



Kennedy, Helen P. Effect of High School Work upon Girls 
during Adolescence. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. Ill, pp. 
469-482. Worcester, June 1896. 

A study of the replies of 125 girls to a series of questions. Shows 
strongly the need of home instruction in the intimate problems of human 
Ufe. 

Kiddle, Henry, and Schem, Alex. J., Editors. Cyclopcedia of 
Education. Pp. v + 868 + xi. E. Steiger, New York, 1877. 

See articles dealing with various phases of moral education, as: Cor- 
poral Punishment, Government, Discipline. 

King, Irving. The Psychology of Child Deveolpment. Pp. xxi + 265. 
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1903. 

Kirkpatrick, Edwin A. Fundamentah of Child Study. Pp. xxi + 
384. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1904. 

Several portions of the book treat indirectly of mor^l education. See 
especially chapter XI, Development of Instincts — 'Regulative (Moral 
and Religious). 

Kovalevsky, S6nya. Her Recollections of Childhood. Translated 
from the Russian by Isabel F. Hapgood. With a Biography 
by Anna Carlotta Leffler. Pp. 318. The Century Co., New 
York, 1895. 

Pages 1-151 give Sonya Kovalevsky's Autobiography of Childhood, 
an unusually instructive study with reference to the function of parental 
love and tenderness in the life of a sensitive, gifted child. The Biography 
deals with the larger problems of life education. 

Kramer, John W. The Right Road. A Handbook for Parents and 

Teachers. Pp. v + 282. James Nisbet &Co., London, 1892. 

An interesting collection of stories, gathered from all quarters, arranged 
on a scheme of duties, and followed by didactic questions and comments. 
The book is worth studying as an experiment; but the stories are mainly 
of the type of the old-time Sunday school literature, and are not suffi- 
ciently artistic to serve as the best text for ethical instruction. 

Kriege, Matilda H. The Child, Its Nature and Relations; An 
Elucidation of FroebeVs Principles of Education. A free render- 
ing of the German of the Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow. Pp. 148. 
E. Steiger, New York, 1877. 

A good expression of Froebel's principles and influence. 

Laloi, Pierre. L'Annee Preparatoire d' Instruction Morale et d'ln- 
struction Civique. Pp. 136. Armand Colin et Cie., Paris, 1900. 

Prepared in obedience to the official program for 1887. Very simple 
moral lessons, brief stories, illustrations, questions. 

La Premiere Annee d' Instruction Morale et Civique. 

Pp. 208. Armand Colin et Cie., Paris, 1900. 

Prepared in obedience to the official program of 1887 and the minis- 
terial order of 1891. Simple lessons, stories, illustrations, questions and 
reviews. An excellent primary text-book. In its 43rd edition. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 323 



Lancaster, E. G. The Psychology and Pedagogy of Adolescence. 
In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. V, pp. 61-128. Worcester, July 
1897. 

An admirable study based chiefly on returns from a syllabus sent out 
under President Hall's direction. This long article contains not only a 
mass of interesting facts, but some helpful apphcations to physical and 
moral education. 

Larned, J. N. Primer of Right and Wrong; For Young People in 
Schools and Families. Pp. vi + 167. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
Boston, 1902. 

Intended as a text-book for direct ethical instruction. Contains 
didactic lessons giving an analysis of duties, with some quotations, ex- 
amples, and illustrations from biography and Uterature. Modern and 
one of the best texts in EngUsh. 

Lecky, William Edward Hartpole. The Map of Life: Conduct 
and Character. Pp. xiv + 353. Longmans, Green, & Co., New 
York, 1899. 

See especially chapter XII, The Management of Character. 

Lee, Joseph. Constructive and Preventive Philanthropij. Pp. x+242. 
The Macmillan Co., New York, 1902. _ 

A general discussion of practical work in meeting the problems of 
modern city Ufe. Chapters deaUng with Playgrounds, Clubs, Vacation 
Schools. 

Lehmann, R. Erziehung und Erzieher. Pp. viii + 344. Weidmann- 
sche Buchhandlung, Berlin, 1901. 

Lesshaft, P. De V Education de V Enfant dans la Famille et de sa 
Signification. Pp. 269. Albert Schulz, Paris, 1894. 

Devoted mainly to a discussion of the various types of childhood. 

Le Sueur, W. D. Canada's Attempted Solution of the Problem, of 
Religious Education in the Public Schools. In Ethical Record, 
vol. V, no. 1, pp. 7-13. New York, October-November 1903. 

Leuba, James H. A Study in the Psychology of Religious Phe- 
nomena. In American Journal of Psychology, vol. VII, pp. 
309-385. Worcester, April 1896. 

This study centres on conversion, containing an analysis of its phe- 
nomena, with numerous illustrative cases, and a discussion of the relation 
of current^theology to the facts brought out. 

Levasseur, E. Comparative Study of Popular Education Among 
Civilized Nations: Administration of Popular Education. 
Translated by W. Addis. In Report of the United States 
Commissioner of Education for 1895-1896, vol. I, chapter X, 
pp. 601-610. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897. 
The most valuable part of this article deals with the relation of public 
education to rehgion and to the state in various countries. 

Liard, Louis. Morale et Enseignement Civique, a I' Usage des Ecoles 
Primaires. Cours moyen et cours supirieur. Pp. viii+200. Leo- 
pold Cerf, Paris, 1886. 

A fair example of the numerous French text-books for ethical instruc- 
tion. Contains brief lessona on duties, partly in dialogue form, with 
questions and review^ 



324 MORAL EDUCATION 



L'lnstituteur Primaire et I'Enseignement de la Morale. In 
Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. CLI, pp. 873-894. Paris, January- 
Si, 1899. 

Opposed to the effort to teach morals in the public schools. Gives an 
excellent idea of the difficulties in the ethical and reUgious instruction 
of children in state schools. 

Locke, John. Some Thoughts Concerning Education. With Intro- 
duction and notes by R. H. Quick. Pp. xiv + 240. Cambridge 
University Press, London, 1892. 

Sound common-sense, much of it thoroughly applicable today. 
Especially good on moral discipUne. 

Long, George. The Conduct of Life: A Series of Essays. Pp. xi + 
239. John Murray, London, 1845. 

Readable old-time essays. The part dealing with family life is of 
some value for moral education. 

Loti, Pierre. (Pseudonym for Louis Marie Julien Viaud.) The 
Story of a Child. Translated from the French by Caroline F. 
Smith. Pp. xi-f 304. C. C. Birchard & Co., Boston, 1902. 

One of the most instructive autobiographies of childhood. Artistic, 
temperamental, giving only moods and impressions. An extreme antith- 
esis to the autobiography of John Stuart Mill as a study of childhood. 

Lukens, Herman T. A Study of Children's Drawings in the Early 
Years. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. IV, pp. 79-110. 
Worcester, October 1896. 

An inductive study, agreeing in its results with the studies by Earl 
Barnes and others in holding that art should be a language of expression 
for young children long before they are taught the grammar of art. All 
these studies have an important bearing on the general problem of moral 
education through free activity. 

Luqueer, Frederic Ludlow. Hegel as Educator. Columbia 
University Contributions to Philosophy, Psychology and 
Education, vol. II, no. 1. Pp. 185. The Macmillan Co., New 
York, 1896. 

Contains a translation of the principal thoughts of Hegel on education. 

Lynd, W. S. Moral Influence of Rewards. Chapter VI, pp. 
109-128, in The Teacher's Miscellany, a selection of articles 
from the proceedings of the College of Professional Teachers, 
by J. L. Campbell and A. M. Hadley. The J. B. Lippincott 
Co., Philadelphia, 1856. 

Somewhat out of date, but good. 

Lyttleton, E. Instruction of the Young in Sexual Knowledge. In 
International Journal of Ethics, vol. IX, no. 4, pp. 453-467. 
Philadelphia, July 1899. 

A sane, temperate, straightforward article, advocating definite in- 
struction in sex knowledge, and showing the method in some detail. 

— Mothers and Sons, or Problems in the Home Train- 
ing of Boys. Pp. ix-l-169. The Macmillan Co., New York, 
1893. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 325 



]?f ac Cunn, John. The Making of Character. Some Educational 
Aspects of Ethics. Pp. vii+226. The Cambridge Series for 
Schools and Training Colleges, The Macmillan Co., New 
York, 1900. 

A good discussion, utilizing certain aspects of the newer psychology, 
especially the work of Professor James. Comprehensive rather than 
organic. 

Mac Donald, Arthur. Abnormal Man, being Essays on Education 
and Crime and Related Sitbjects, with Digests of Literature and a 
Bibliography. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1893. 

Malleson, Mrs. F. Notes on the Early Training of Children. Pp. 
iv+127. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1892. 
Early moral education by nurture and discipHne. 

Mann, Horace. The Life and Works of Horace Mann. Five vols. 
Lee & Shepard, Boston, 1891. 

These volumes are the most complete memorial of the work and influ- 
ence of Horace Mann in American education. The more direct discus- 
sion of moral education will be found in vol. II (see especially "On School 
Punishments," pp. 333-368) and vol. V. 

Mann, Mary Peabody. Moral Culture of Infancy. Pp. 105-206 in 
Guide to the Kindergarten by Elizabeth P. Peabody and the 
above. E. Steiger, New York, 1877. 

Practical letters full of miscellaneous and unclassified concrete detail, 
written in the true kindergarten spirit. 

Marion, Henri. De la Solidarite Morale. Essai de Psychologic 
Appliquee. Pp. viii-)-359. Bibliotheque de Philosophic Con- 
temporaine. Felix Alcan, Paris, 1890. 

Excellent and modern, though sometimes^ slight in treatment. Sound 
suggestions on the influence of early education and on moral crises. 

Mark, H. Thiselton. Individuality and the Moral Aim in Ameri- 
can Education. The Gilchrist Report presented to the Victoria 
University, March 1901. Pp. xiii+298. Longmans, Green, & 
Co., New York, 1901. 

An interesting view of American education from the outside. Mis- 
cellaneous reports of opinions, with Uttle unity beyond that given by the 
underlying question of the book. 

— An Outline of the History of Educational 

Theories in England. Pp. xi+139. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. , 
London, 1899. 

See chapter VI on the Development of the Theory of Moral Education 
in England. 

The Teacher and the Child. Elements of 



Moral and Religious Teaching in the Day School, the Home, and 
the Sunday School. Pp. 165. T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1903. 
A ^mple manual, written more particularly with Sunday school 
teachers in mind. Chapters IX-XV deal with aspects of moral educa- 
tion. 



328 MORAL EDUCATION 

Marsh, Harriet A. A New Aspect of Child Study. In Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. V, pp. 136-145. Worcester, July 1897. 

Describes an intere.sting and i=iuccessful experiment in bringing mothers 
and teachers together at regular intervals to discuss their common prob- 
lems in the education of children. 

Marsh, Mabel A. Children and AnimaU. In Studies in Educa" 
tion, edited bv Earl Barnes, vol. II, pp. 83-99. 

An inductive study, based on a thousand papers from London School 
Board children, dealing with the attitude of children toward pets. A 
further side study by Miss Cash immediately follows the above: see pp. 
100-107. 

Martin, George H. The Unseen Korce in Character Making. In 
Journal of Education, vol. XLIX, pp. 161-1G6. Boston, March 
1899. 

An address read at the Department of Superintendence meeting, 
Columbus. General, dealing especially with the influence of personaUty, 
in teacher and books, for character building. 

Martin, George Madden. Enimy Lou, Her Book and Heart. Pp. 
279. McClure, Phillips & Co., New York, 1902. 

A charminj? interpretation of child life, containing incidentally an 
instructive criticism of our public school system. 

Martineau, Harriet. Household Education. Pp. viii+212. Lea 
& Blanchard, Philadelphia, 1849. 

E.\cellent, though " little out of date. Especially good suggestions 
on the education parents receive from household hfe. 

Mason, Charlotte M. Home Education. A Course of Lectures 
to Ladies, delivered in Bradford, in the winter of 1885-1886. 
Pp. xi-|-369. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., London, 
1896. 

Miscellaneous suggestions on all aspects of early education; often help- 
ful, everywhere detailed and concrete, occasionally sentimental. 

— Parents and Children. A sequel to Home 

Education. Pp. xii-f4?9. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & 
•Co., London, 1897. 

Essaysreprinted from the Parents' Review. Of the same type as the 
lectures in Home Edtuation. Sound counsel, especially in the more 
concrete studies of book II, though over-emphasizing devices for manag- 
ing children. 

Matson, Henry. Knowledge and Culture. Pp. 170. A. C. McClurg 
& Co., Chicago^ 1895 

Of some value with reference to the ideal of education. 

Matthews, F. H. A Dialogue on Moral Education. Pp. 257. 
Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1898. 

A treatise covering many a.spects of moral education; cast in the form 
of a series of conversations by a doctor, a schoolmaster, a clergyman and 
their wives. 



BIBIJOGRAPHY 327 



Matthews, Shailer. The Curriculum of Study in the Sunday 
School. In Proceedin2;9 of the Religious Education Associa^ 
tion, 1903, pp. 186-199. 

Matthias, Adolf. Praktische Padagogik filr hohere Lehranstalten. 
Pp. 397. C. H. Beck, Munich, 1895. 

See pp. 10-29 for an interesting discussion of the influence of the 
teacher's personality; and pp. 118-214 for a consideration of discipline. 

Mayo, A. D. Methods of Moral Instruction in Common Schools. 
In Report of the National Educational Association for 1872, 
pp. 11-27. Published by the Association, Peoria, 111., 1873. 
A popular, practical address touching the main aspects of moral educa- 
tion. 

McMurry, Charles A. The Elements of General Method Based 
on the Principles of Herbart. Pp. 331. The MacmiUan Co., 
New York, 1903. 

The chief purpose of the book is to show how various studies can be 
utilized for the central aim of character building. Advocates moral 
culture as against dry ethical instruction and urges the use of history 
and literature. One of the best expressions of the American Herbartian 
movement. 

— Special Method in History. Pp. 7 + 

291. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1903. 

Plans a course of history for common schools. Considers utilizing 
history for moral culture. 

— Special Method in the Reading of Com- 
plete English Classics in the Grades of the Common School. Pp. 
v + 254. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1903. 

See especially chapter I, Educational Value of Literature; and chapter 
II, The Use of Masterpieces as Wholes. Contains a valuable annotated 
list of books. 

Meynell, Alice. The Children. Pp. 134. John Lane, New York, 
1897. 

Pleasant and sympathetic little sketches. 

Mezieres, M. A. j^ducation Morale, et Instruction Civique 
a I' Usage des Scales Primaires. Cours moyen et superieur. Pp. 
vii + 176. Ch. Delagrave, Paris, 1883. 

A simple course of didactic lessons, with examples and exercises. 

Mill, James. Education. In Essays, pp. 1-46. J. Innes, London. 
No date. 

A good, clear essay of the dryly intellectual type. Interesting espe- 
cially as the view of the father and teacher of John Stuart Mill. 

Mill, John Stuart, Autobiography. Pp. vi-|-313. Henry Holt & 
Co., New York, 1887. 

Perhaps the most valuable autobiography in existence in throwing 
light upon education. 
Montaigne. The Education of Children. Selected, translated, and 
annotated by L. E. Rector. Pp. xxiii + 191. International 
Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1899. 

Chiefly historical in interest, yet based on shrewd observation and 
containing some sound wisdom applicable today. 



328 MORAL EDUCATION 

Morgan, C. Lloyd. Psychology for Teachers. Pp. xi + 240. Charles 

Scribner's Sons, New York, 1898. 

The final chapter, on Character and Conduct, pp. 210-231, deals with 
the aim of life and of education. 

Morley, Margaret Warner. Life and Love. Pp. 214. A. C. McClurg 
& Co., Chicago, 1895. 

Like A Song of Life, but for somewhat more advanced pupils. At 
once frank and delicate in teaching sex through nature as culminating 
in human life. 

A Song of Life. Pp. 155. A. C. McClurg 

& Co., Chicago, 1896. 

Elementary instruction in sex and parenthood through lessons from 
nature. Delicately done and, within its rigid iiniits, as excellent as any- 
thing available. 

Mosher, Martha B. Child Cidtura in the Home. A Book for 
Mothers. Pp. 240. Sampson Low, Marston & Co., London, 
1898. 

A good modern expression of Froebel, showing also the influence of 
Emerson. 

Mosso, Angelo. Fatigue: Translated by M. and W. B. Dnim- 
mond. Pp. xiv + 334. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1904. 

A scientific study with a great indirect value in reference to the con- 
ditions of sound education. 

• Fear. Translated from the . . . Italian by E. 

Lough and F. Kiesow. Pp. 278. Longmans, Green, & Co., 
New York, 1896. 

See chapter XIII, Fear in Children; and chapter XVI, Hereditary 
Transmission, Education. 

Mowry, W. A., et al. Moral Education in Schools. Report of 
Committee on Moral Education to the National Council of 
Education. In Education, vol. IV, pp. 1-14. Boston, Sep- 
tember 1883. 

An admirable report, classifying the \-irtues of character and discuss- 
ing the possibility of teachinji them in the public .schools. Emphasizes 
the training of habit as against direct instruction in ethics, urging the 
use of the opportunities in school organization and government to form 
moral habits. Considers the relation of moral to religious instruction 
and holds it to be questionable whether any religious instruction should 
be attempted in the schools. 

Mulock, D. M. Sermons out of Church. Pp. 217. Harper & 
Brothers, New York, 1875. 

See pp. 75-117, on How to Train up a Parent in the Way He Should 
Go. 

Newell, William W. Ga77ies and Songs of American CliUdren. 
Pp. XV + 282. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1903. 

An interesting collection, with chapters on the inventiveness and con- 
servatism of children. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 329 



Nichol, T. P. Moral Training in Our Common Schools. Suggestions 
of Certain Practical Methods of Increasing its Efficiencj^ : being 
the substance of a discourse read before the Glasgow Branch 
of the Scottish Educational Institute, on 20th March, 1858. 
Pp. 56. R. Grifhn & Co., London, 1858. 

One of the older essays emphasizing the opportunities for moral cvilture 
in the common schools. 

Obici, Giulio. Les Erreurs de I' Education Sexuelle. In La Revue, 
vol. XLII, pp. 381-404. Paris, August 15, 1902. 

A criticism of religious teaching, boarding-school influences and home 
neglect, with a sketch of a positive program for instruction in reference 
to sex questions. 

O'Connell, Jerome A,, Editor. Class Management Number of 
New York Teachers' Monographs. Pp. 130. New York, 
March 1900. 

Excellent articles by different educators on all aspects of class manage- 
ment in the public schools. 

Oppenheim, Nathan. The Development of the Child. Pp. viii-F 
296. The MacmiUan Co., New York, 1899. 

A readable book; especially good in discussing the relation of physical 
growth to moral education. Chapter VI deals with the place of religion 
in the development of the child. 

• Mental Growth and Control. Pp. ix4-296. 

The MacmiUan Co., New York, 1902. 

Descriptive of mental life, with didactic general lessons from science^ 

O'Shea, M. V. Education as Adjustment. Pp. xiv-|-317. Long- 
mans, Green, & Co., New York, 1903. 

— — Some Adolescent Reminiscences. In Journal of 

Pedagogy, vol. XI, pp. 299-316, Syracuse, N. Y., October 
1898. 

_ An inductive study emphasizing the need for the sympathetic appre- 
ciation of young people. 

Parker, Francis W. Talks on Pedagogics. Pp. xvi -1-491. E. 
L. Kellogg & Co., New York, (copyright) 1894. 

This book is the written expression of Colonel Parker's spirit and 
influence in education. See especially chapters I, The Child; XIV, 
School Government and Moral Training; XVI, Democracy and Educa- 
tion. 

Parkhurst, Charles H. Talks to Young Women. Pp. 136. 
The Century Co., New York, 1897. 

'General talks, kindly in spirit. Chapters VII, VIII, IX, X bear 
cnrectly on moral education. 

Pater, Walter. The Child in the House. In Miscellaneous 

Studies, pp. 147-169. The MacmiUan Co., New York, 1895. 

A delicate bit of semi-autobiographical literature of childhood. A 

searching into shadowy memories; full of the sense of the mystery of 

life. Strong in showing the influence of environment and events in 

molding a child's spirit. 



330 MORAL EDUCATION 

Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. Guide to the Kindergarten. Pp. 
104. E. Steiger, New York, 1877. 

Mrs. Mary Peabody Mann's Moral Culture of Infancy ii in the same 
volume, pp. 105-206. 

Penn, William. His Advice to His Children Relating to Their 
Civil and Religious Conduct. In Fruits of Solitude, pp. 163- 
247. R. Eastburn, New Brunswick, N. J., 1807. 

Interesting old counsel, still applicable, if somewhat commonplace. 

Perez, Bernard. L' Education Morale dhs le Berceau, Essai de 
Psychologic Appliquce. Pp. xxiv + 321. Bibliotheque de 
Philosophie Contemporaine, Felix Alcan, Paris, 1888. 

A good, sound book in the main, giving concrete and detailed counsel. 
Urges a combination of severity and kindliness. Modern in spirit. 

The First Three Years of ChildJwod. Edited 

and translated by Alice M. Christie. Pp. xxiii + 292. C. W. 
Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y., 1894. 

A somewhat scrappy survey, with numerous citations of concrete cases 
and frequent helpful suggestions. 

Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich. How Gertrude Teaches Her Chil- 
dren; An Attempt to Help MotJiers to Teach Their Own Children 
and an Account of the Method. Translated by Lucy E. Holland 
and Francis C. Turner. . . . Edited by Ebenczer Cooke. 
Pp. li+256. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1894. 

Most of the book bears on Pestalozzi's method of teaching with refer- 
ence to senses and intellect. The last portion deals wiih moral and 
religious education through the child's relation to its mother. In that 
relation Pestalozzi sees the centre of all educational influence. These 
concluding pages contain the germ of Froebel and many subsequent 
educational reformers. 

Leonard and Gertrude. Translated 

and abridged bv Eva Channing. Pp. xii+181. D. C. Heath & 
Co., Boston, 1891. 

Homely sense in relation to life and its duties. Suggestions for sound 
moral discipline. Not only interesting historically, but still of value. 

Letters on Early Education. 



Translated from the German manuscript. Pp. 180. C. W. 
Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y., 1898. 

An interesting work. _ The German original was never published and 
is probably no longer in existence. The book is especially strong in 
expressing Pestalozzi's view of the mother's share in the child's educa- 
tion, and contains many hints which are still helpful. 

Plato. The Reptddic. Translated by B. Jowett. Pp. ccxxxi + 379. 
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1888. 

See Books II, III, VI, VII for Plato's views on education. 

Plutarch. Morals. Edited by Wm. W. Goodwin. Five vols. 
Little, Brown, & Co., Boston, 1871. 

See vol. I, pp. 3-32: On the Training of Children. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 331 



Poulsson, Emilie. Love and Law in Child Training. A Book for 
Mothers. Pp. 235. The Milton Bradley Co., Springfield, 
Mass., 1899. 

One of the good expressions of Froebel and the kindergarten, con- 
taining helpful applications of the principles and experience of the kin- 
dergarten to the home. 

Powell, Aaron M., Editor. The National Purity Congress (held 
at Baltimore, 1895), Its Papers, Addresses, Portraits. Pp. 453. 
The American Purity Alliance, New York, 1896. 

A few of the papers consider the education of children in questions of 
sex. 

Preyer, W. Mental Development in the Child. Translated by H. 
W. Brown. Pp. 170. International Education Series, D. 
Appleton & Co., New York, 1894. 

Prince, J. T. Moral Training and School Government. In Educa- 
tion, vol. V, pp. 113-126. Boston, November 1884. 

Emphasizes development of character as the one great end of all 

education. Recognizes that moral culture must come through the 

whole work and government of the school. A large number of helpful 
miscellaneous suggestions. 

Putnam, Daniel. Elementary Psychology or First Principles of 
Mental and Moral Science, for High, Normal, and Other Secondary 
Schools, and for Private Reading. Pp. x+283. American Book 
Co., New York, 1889. 

_ A simple, readable book, consisting largely of definitions and descrip- 
tion. 

Quilter, Hugh H. Onward and Upward. A Book for Boys and 
Girls. Pp. 200. E. P. Button & Co., New York, 1902. 

An attempt to teach morals to children from ten to fourteen, by 
analogies from rsftture popularizing evolution. Though denying that 
he does so, the author 'writes down' to cliildren, and the result is 
rather unsatisfactory. 

Rein, Wilhelm. Culture and Education. In Forum, vol. XXVI, 
pp. 693-702. New York, February 1899. 

A strong, brief article advocating wider adult education and a closer 
union of the schools with the masses of the people. While written 
from the point of view of German problems, it is full of suggestion for 
America. 

Erziehungs- und Bildungs-Ideale. In Gottinger 

Arbeiterbibliothek, vol. II, no. 9, pp. 129-144. Gottingen, 1898. 

Written for workingmen. Didactic and to the point. Considers 
especially the relation of education to the problems of German civUiza- 
tion. 

Outlines of Pedagogics. Translated by C. C. and 

Ida J. Van Liew. Pp. xii + 199. C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, 
N. Y., 1893. 



332 MORAL EDUCATION 

Religious Education Association. Proceedings of the First 
Annual Convention, Chicago, February 10-12, 1903. Pp. viii+ 
422. Executive Office of the Association, Chicago, 1903. 

The whole volume is interesting as expressing the revived interest in 
religious education. Contains some helpful addresses. 

Repplier, Agnes. Books and Men. Pp. 224. Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1893. 

The chapter on Children, Past and Present, pp. 1-32, keenly contrasts 
the old regime of restriction with the new one of license. The chapter on 
What Children Read, pp. 64-93, contrasts the reading of whole books of 
true Uterature, with the eSect of the diluted and fragmentary material 
children read today. 

Little Pharisees in Fiction. In Varia, pp. 85— 

109. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1897. 

Contains a bright criticism of Sunday school stories of the Elsie Dins- 
more type. 

Rice, J. M. Public School System of the United States. Pp. vi + 
308. The Century Co., New York, 1893. 

Based on the investigation, undertaken for the Forum, into the school 
systems of a number of the larger cities of the United States. Full of 
concrete data and frank criticism. Indirectly of much value for the 
present problem of moral education. 

Richmond, Ennis. Boyhood. A Plea for Continuity in Educa- 
tion. Pp. 154. Longmans, Green, & Co., New York, 1898. 

A simple discussion of moral training in the early years of boyhood. 
For parents, with the aim of bringing about greater cooperation of 
teachers and parents. 

The Mind of a Child. Pp. 176. Longmans, 



Green, & Co., New York, 1901. 

Advocates the 'spiritual' as opposed to the scientific view of child- 
hood. A general discussion of phases of moral education for parents. 

Through Boyhood to Manhood. A Plea for 



Ideals. Pp. 194. Longmans, Green, & Co., New York, 1899. 

A criticism of English schools for boys. Contains somq helpful ideas 
with reference to deahng with sex problems. 

Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich. Levana; or, The Doctrine of 
Education. Translated from the German by "A. H." Pre- 
ceded by a short biography of the author, and his autobiog- 
raphy, a fragment. Pp. xliv + 413. George Bell & Sons, 
London, 1886. 

Contains much homely wisdom bearing on various aspects of moral 
education. Somewhat apart from the main line of German educational 
reform, but none the less helpful. 

Riis, Jacob A. The Battle with the Slum. Pp. xi + 465. The 
Macmillan Co., New York, 1902. 

_ The best account of the problem moral education confronts in a great 
city. Optimistic, vigorous, born of direct experience in helping to solve 
the problem. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 333 



The Children of the Poor. Pp. xi+300. Charles 

Scribner's Sons, New York, 1892. 

A large amount of concrete material, collected through personal in- 
vestigation, illustrating the conditions under which children live in the 
crowded districts of New York, and showing certain acute phases of the 
problem of moral education. 

How the Other Half Lives. Studies Among the 



Tenements of New York. Pp. xv + 304. Charlea Scribneria 
Sons, New York, 1892. 

Mr. Riis's first book and the type of all his work in skowing the moral 
problems in the great centres of population. 

The Making of an American. Pp. xiii+443. The 

Macmillan Co., New York, 1902. 

A charming book with considerable incidental bearing on the larger 
task of moral education. 

Rosenkranz, Johann Karl Friedrich. The Philosopy of Edu- 
cation. Translated by Anna C. Brackett. Pp. xxviii-f-286. 
International Education Series, D. Appleton & Co., New 
York, 1891. 

Chapters XII-XVI deal with aspects of moral education. 

Ross, Edward Alsworth. Social Coritrol. A Survey of the Foun- 
dations of Order. Pp. xii + 463. The Citizen's Library of 
Economics, Politics, and Sociology, The Macmillan Co., New 
York, 1901. 

A study of the forces society uses (suchas belief, art, ideals, education, 
pubUc opinion) to bring the individual into harmony with the ends of 
the group. Suggestive, fresh, one-sided and incomplete. 

Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Emile; or Treatise on Education. 
Abridged, translated and annotated by Wm. H. Payne. Pp. 
xlv-l-355. International Education Series, D. Appleton & 
Co., New York, 1893. 

Ijfjll of suggestiveness. Reactionary upon the time, with Rousseau's 
characteristic strength and weakness. Largely superseded in detail and 
corrected by modern thought and work, but permanently valuable for its 
spirit, aims and suggestions. The translation is unfortunately badly 
cut and rather officiously annotated. 

Royce, Josiah. On Certain Psychological Aspects of Moral Train- 
ing. In International Journal of Ethics, vol. Ill, no. 4, pp. 
413-436. Philadelphia, July 1893. 

Valuable in reference to the aim of moral education. States two great 
aspects of the aim (benevolence and reasonableness) and studies the 
conflict between them in the development of conscience. 

The New Psychology and the Consulting Psycholo- 
gist. In Forum, vol XXVI, pp. 80-96. New York, Septem- 
ber 1898. 

An excellent article vigorously urging the appointment of consulting 
psychologists in our public schools to mediate between laboratories and 
teachers. 



334 MORAL EDUCATION 

Ruskin, John. Prccterita: Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Per- 
haps Worthy of Memory, in My Past Life. Three vols. , pp. 
iv + 301 and 304 and 126. J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 1890. 

The portion of this autobiography dealing with Ruskin's childhood is 
of value for moral and religious education. 

Rylands, L. Gordon. Crime, Its Cause and Remedy. Pp. iv + 
264. T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1889. 

Chapters V and VI deal with the moral education by the state, in 
industrial schools, of children who bid fair to become criminals. A 
valuable book. 

Sabin^ Ellen. Ethics in Education. In Proceedings of the 
Seventh Annual Meeting of the Congress of Religion held at 
Buffalo, N. Y., June-July 1901, pp. 29-46. Unity Pub- 
lishing Co. , Chicago. No date. 

An admirable general article urging a more hardy moral discipline in 
home and school, with the direct ethical instruction of children. 

Savage, M. J. The Rights of Children. In Arena, vol. VI, pp. 
8-16. Boston, June 1892. 

A pleasant general article expressing the modern kindly attitude 
toward childhood. 

Schallenberger, Margaret E. A Study of Children's Rights as 
Seen by Themselves. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. Ill, pp. 87- 
96. Worcester, October 1894. 

Scholz, Fr. Die Charakterfehler des Kindes, Eine Erziehungslehre 
fiir Haus und Schule. Pp. viii + 255. E. H. Mayer, Leipzig. 

An effort to depict the chief types of pathological children, with sug- 
gestions as to cause and cure. 

Schwickerath, Robert. Jesuit Education: Its History and Prin- 
ciples Viewed in the Light of Modern Educational Problems. Pp. 
xv+687. B. Herder, St. Louis, Mo., 1903. 

See last four chapters: The Moral Scope, pp. 522-573; Religious In- 
struction, pp. 574-607; School-Management, pp. 608-635; The Teacher's 
Motives and Ideals, pp. 636-661. 

Search, Preston W. An Ideal School, or Looking Forward. 
Pp. xxv+357. International Education Series, D. Appleton & 
Co., New York, 1901. 

Advocates radical educational reform in the direction of individualism. 
Criticism of the whole plan of public education. Constant bearing on 
the problem of moral education. 

Sears, Charles H. Home and School Punishments. In Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. VI, pp. 159-187. Worcester, March 1899. 

An article based on replies to a questionnaire sent to parents and 
teachers for opinions on punishment, its purpose and effects. A poorly- 
digested summary ot answers. Contains bibliography. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 



Seeley, Levi. The Foundations of Education. Pp. xi+263. Hinds 
& Noble, New York. No date. 

A book of simple, fatherly ad\'1ce for young teachers. Full of helpful 
suggestion for parents as well. Practical, mingling common-sense with 
an appreciation of modern educational thought. 

Seelye, Julius H. Duty: A Book for Schools. Pp. 71. Ginn & 
Co., Boston, 1892. 

A didactic text-book for children; brief, simple, giving the conventional 
analysis of duties. 

Sergi, Giuseppe. L'Educazione del Carattere. Pp. vi+287. Fra- 
telli Dumolard, Milan, 1893. 

Sharp, Frank Chapman. So7ne Aims of Moral Education. In 
International Journal of Ethics, vol. IX, pp. 214-228. Phila- 
delphia, January 1899. 

Contains a protest against the extreme view of the importance of 
habit. Discusses the aim of moral education and considers the value 
of contact with heroes in Uterature. 

Shearer, W. J. Morals and Manners, or Elements of Character 
and Conduct. Pp.218. Richardson, Smith & Co., New York, 
1904. 

Intended as a text-book for the direct ethical instruction of children. 
Pleasant and less dry than such texts usually are. Lessons, descriptive 
and exhortative, followed by maxims and questions. Good, but too 
didactic and lacking in unity and organization. 

Sheldon, Walter L. An Ethical Sunday School: A Scheme for 
the Moral Instruction of the Young. Pp. vi-f-206. The Mac- 
millan Co., New York, 1900. 

An attempt at an organic course, applicable beyond the limits of the 
Sunday school. A graded course of ethical instruction carrying out the 
plan outhned iu the above book is now in process of pubhcation in several 
volumes. 

Shirrefi, Emily A. E. Essays and Lectures on the Kindergarten. 
Pp. 187. E. Steiger & Co., New York, 1883. 

The Kindergarten at Home: A Practical 

Hand-Book for Mothers and Teachers. Pp. xvi + 201. Abbott, 
Jones & Co., London. No date. 

_ An excellent interpretation, of Froebel by a leader of the English 
kindergarten movement. 



— — Moral Training: Froebel and Herbert 

Spencer. Pp. 20. George Philip & Son, London, 1892. 

An admirable brief discussion, somewhat over zealous for Froebel, but 
pointing clearly the hmitations in Spencer's theory of punishment in 
education. 

Shute, Henry A. The Real Diary of a Real Boy. Pp. v-t-154. 
Everett Press, Boston, 1902. 

An interesting account of natural boy life. Whether or not the book 
is what it purports to be — the real journal of a boy — it is instructive in 
showing the moral value of the vigorous contact of a lad with his peers. 



83B MORAL EDUCATION 

Skinner, Charles R. Moral Instruction in Our Schools. In 
Education, vol. XXIII, pp. 75-82. Boston, October 1902. 

A brief article urging moral in.struction in the public schools, and in- 
dicating tne range of teaching possible without entering upon the field 
of rehgion. 

Small, Maurice H, On Some Psychical Relations of- Society and 
Solitude. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VII, pp. 13-69. 
Worcester, April 1900. 

— The Suggestibility of Children. In Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. IV, pp. 176-220. Worcester, December 
1896 

An inductive study. Some valuable pedagogical applications, tenta- 
tive, but directly applying to moral education. 

Smith, Nora Archibald. The Children of the Future. Pp. 165. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1898. 

An excellent expression of the spirit and contribution of the kinder- 
garten. Consists mainly of counsel to mothers, and contains helpful 
advice on typical cases of discipline. 

Smith, William Hawley. The Evolution of " Dodd." Pp. 153. 
Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago. No date. 

A strong criticism of 'machine' education, cast in the form of a story. 
Most of the points of criticism are somewhat overstated. Emphasizes 
especially the personal influence of the teacher. 

Snedden, David S. Children's Attitude toward Punishment for 
Weak Time Sense. In Studies in Education, edited by Earl 
Barnes, vol. I, pp. 344-351. 

One of the numerous suggestive studies carried out under the direction 
of Earl Barnes to determine the reaction of children on corrective 
discipUne. 

Spalding, J. L. Means and Ends of Education. Pp. 232. A. C. 
McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1895. 

Chiefly public addresses centering on the importance of moral and 
religious education, by a large-minded, generous, thoughtful CathoUo 
bishop. Unity in the spirit rather than the organization of the volume^ 

Thoughts and Theories of Life and Education. 

Pp. 236. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1897. 

Kindly and fatherly counsel on life and education; much of it bearing 
on moral culture. 

Spencer, Herbert. Education, Intellectual, Moral and Physical. 
Pp. xviii+283. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1878. 

About one-fourth of the volume deals with moral education. Empha- 
sizes the bringing to bear upon the child the natural consequences of his 
actions as the main business of moral education. Sane, and corrective 
to ordinary thinking and practice, but one-sided and lacking complete- 
ness of view. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 337 

Stapf, Joseph Ambros. The Spirit and Scope of Education in 
Promoting the Well-Being of Society. Translated by Robert 
Gordon. Pp. 376. C. Dolman, London, 1851. 

_ A helpful discussion, much of it bearing on moral and religious educa- 
tion, by a Roman Catholic. 

Starbuck, Edwin Diller. The Psychology of Religion. An Em- 
pirical Study of the Growth of Religious Consciousness. Pp. 
xx+423. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1900. 

An inductive study on the basis of a considerable mass of personal 
data, accumulated through answers to a questionnaire sent out widely. 
Some helpful inferences in reference to the problem of moral and religious 
education. Two studies by the author, preliminary to the book, ap- 
peared in. the American Journal of Psychology, vol. VIII, pp. 268-308, 
and vol. IX. pp. 70-124. 

Stelzle, Charles. Boys of the Street: How to Win Them. Pp. 96. 
The Fleming H. Revell Co., Chicago, 1904 (?). 

On boys' clubs. A good example of the work now being done in that 
connection. 

Stetson, W. W. Thoughts by the Way. Pp. 24. Publisher? 1904. 

A little pamphlet of sound didactic counsel for teachers-;-all bearing 
on moral education— by the State Superintendent of Maine. Copies 
sent free on application to the author. 

Stevenson, R. L. Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers. Pp. 
vi-F278. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1895. 

Delightful essays on phases of human life, with an indirect bearing on 
moral education. A little whimsical, but exquisitely done. 

Street, J. R. A Study in Moral Education. In Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. V., pp. 5-40. Worcester, July 1897. 

An attempt at an inductive study on the basis of a rather complex 
questionnaire. Value chiefly in the miscellaneous concrete results 
accumulated. 

Striimpell, Ludwig Adolf. Die Pddagogische Pathologic oder die 
Lehre von den Fehlern der Kinder. Pp. x+384. E. Ungleich, 
Leipzig, 1892. 

Stuart, Ruth McEnery. Sonny. Pp. 135. The Century Co., 
New York, 1896. 

A tender story of the growth of a strong, warm-hearted, self-directing 
child, who is treated with love that concedes, almost weakly, everything 
he desires. A good corrective for over-severity in education. 

Sully, James. Studies of Childhood. Pp. viii + 527. D. Appleton& 
Co., New York, 1898. 

An interesting collection of miscellaneous material, much of it anec- 
dotal in character. Chapters VII, Raw Material of MoraUty, andVIII, 
Under Law, contain helpful data and suggestions for moral education. 

Swett, John. American Public Schools: History and Pedagogics. 
Pp. 320. The American Book Co., New York, 1900. 

Written in text-book style. Part I. chapters I and II, discusses school 
discipline; and Part II, chapter XII, contains some excellent suggestions 
and topics for the ethical instruction of children. 



338 MORAL EDUCATION 



Swift, Edgar James. Some Criminal Tendencies of Boyhood: A 
Study m Adolescence. In Pedagogical Seminary, vol. VIII, pp. 
65-91. Worcester, March 1901. 

A valuable study of the boyhood of some men who turned out well. 
Holds that primitive impulses are strong at a certain period of every boy's 
bfe, and will lead to crime unless counteracted by influences in his 
environment. 

Taine, H. A. Modern Regime. Translated by John Durand. 
Two vols. Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1S90 and 1894. 
See volume II, book VI, for a searching criticism and arraignment of 
French public education from Napoleon onwards. 

Tarver, John Charles. Some Observations of a Foster Parent. 
Pp. xx+282. A. Constable & Co., Westminster, 1897. 

Miscellaneous talks by a teacher to parents. Based on experience in 
British schools, and applying more directly to the conditions in England. 
Occasional chapters touch moral education. 

Thomson, E. Educational Essays. Edited by W. D. Clark. Pp. 
412. Swormstedt & Poe, Cincinnati, 1856. 

See pp. 234-257, Moral Education. Especially good in emphasizing 
the unity of life and, therefore, the intimate relation of all elements of 
education to morality. 

Thurber, C. H. The Principles of School Organization. A Com- 
parative Study Chiefly Based on the Systems of the United 
States, England, Germany, and France. In Pedagogical Semi- 
nary, vol. VIII, pp. 351-394. Worcester, September 1901. 
Deals with the general problem of the relation of schools to the state, 
and considers the advantages and evils of centralization in the adminis- 
tration of the schools. 

— — Religious and Moral Education through Public 

and Private Schools. In Proceedings of the Religious Educa- 
tion Association, 1903, pp. 124-138. Executive Office of the 
Association, Chicago, 1903. 

Toischer, Wendelin. Theoretische Pddagogik und allgemeine Di- 
dakiik. In Handbuch der Erziehungs- und Unterrichts-Lehre fiir 
hohere Schulen, vol. II, part I. Pp. vii + 200. C. H. Beck, 
Munich, 1896. 

See pp. 144-200 for a rather dry discussion covering the general field 
of moral disciphne. 

Tompkins, Arnold. The Philosophy of School Management. Pp. 
xiv+222. Ginn & Co., Boston, 1895. 

— — The Philosophy of Teaching. Pp. xii4-280. 

Ginn & Co., Boston, 1894. 

See pp. 36-72, dealing with the aim of education; and pp. 267-275, 
dealing with morals and religion in the public school. 

Trumbull, H. Clay. The Sunday School : Its Origin, Mission, 
Methods and Auxiliaries. Pp. xiii+415. John D. Wattles 
&Co., Philadelphia, 1888. 

A fair historical review of the Sunday school, with a discussion of its 
work and opportunities at present. Approves of the International Les- 
sons, and believes the Sunday school is the greatest moral power in the 
world. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 

Vallee, L.-L. L'^ducation Domestique de VEnfant et de VAdulte, 
ou VArt de Corriger les Defauts et les Vices et d' Exciter les Qualites 
et les Vertus. Pp. xi+534. L.Hachette et Cie., Paris, 1858. 
An alphabetically arranged dictionary. Small value. 

Vessiot, A. Instruction in Morals and Civil Government. Trans- 
lated by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. 
Pp. 4. Government Printing Office, Washington, July 1882. 

An admirable brief statement summing up the whole problem of moral 
education. 

Vincent, George Edgar. The Social Mind and Education. Pp. 
155. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1897. 

A stimulating book with a general bearing on moral education from 
the point of view of sociology. 

Vincent, John H. A Study in Pedagogy for People Who Are Not 
Professional Teachers. Pp. 73. W. B. Ketcham, New York, 
(copyright) 1890. 

ICindly, general counsel on religious and moral education. 

Vostrovsky, Clara. A Study of Children's Superstitions. In 
Studies in Education, edited by Earl Barnes, vol. I, pp. 123-143. 

Wagner, Charles. The Simple Life. Translated by Mary L. 
Hendee. Pp. xxxix+193. McClure, Phillips & Co., New York, 
1902. 

See especially the fine chapter on The Education for Simplicity, pp. 
167-187. 

Youth. Translated from the French by 

Ernest Redwood. Pp. xv+291. Dodd, Mead & Co., New 
York, 1894. 

A study of our time, with the conditions it places before youth (espe- 
cially in France) and the way youth should meet them. Didactic and 
helpful, with a general bearing on the problem of moral education in 
the age. 

Wagner, Ernst. Luther als Pddagog. Pp. viii+lS4. Die Klas- 
siker der Padagogik, vol. II. F. G. E. Gressler, Langensalza, 
1892. 

An arrangement of Luther's thoughts on education, taken from his 
various works. More bearing on rehgious than on moral education. 

Warner, Francis. The Study of Children and Their School Train- 
ing. Pp. 264. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1897. 

Medical study of abnormalities in children. Suggestive as to the 
relation of physical to moral problems. 

Weeks, Stephen B., Compiler. Art Decorations in School Rooms. 
In Report of United States Commissioner of Education for 
1895-1896, vol. II, pp. 1363-1411. Government Printing 
Office, Washington, 1897. 

Contains reprints of various articles and addresses bearing upon 
education through beautiful environment, also upon the general place 
of art in education. 



340 MORAL EDUCATION 

Weir, Samuel. Realism, Humanism, or Education for Society? 
In Journal of Pedagogy, vol. XIII, pp. 325-349. Syracuse, 
N. Y., June 1900. 

An interesting but not very coherent study of the educational ideal. 

Welldon, J. E. C. The Religious Education of Boys. In Thirteen 
Essays on Education, by E. Lyttleton, et al., pp. 53-82. Perci- 
val & Co., London, 1891. 

Wendte, Charles W. Popular Education and Public Morality. 
In The New World, vol. VIII, pp. 417-431. Boston, Septem- 
ber 1899. 

A good article showing the increase of crime and its causes, and urging 
more definite moral education in home, school and church. 

White, Emerson E. The Elements of Pedagogy. Pp. viii4-336. 
The American Book Co., New York, (copyright) 1886. 
See last section. Moral Training, pp. 313-330. 

— Religion in the School. In Proceedings of 

the International Congress of Education, Chicago, 1893, pp. 
295-301. The National Educational Association, New York, 
1894. 

Considers the measure of religion necessary to moral training and 
advocates that amount in the public school. 

— School Management: A Practical Treatise 



for Teachers and A II Other Persons Interested in the Right Train- 
ing of the Young. Pp. 320. The American Book Co., New 
York, 1894. 

Deals in brief text-book form with the main aspects of school govern- 
ment and discipline and also with direct ethical instruction. 

White, William Allen. The Court of Boyville. Pp. xxx+358. 
McClure, PhilUps & Co., New York, 1902. 

Pleasant sketches of boyhood with a demand for freedom. Helps to 
develop sympathy with real boy life. 

Wiggin, Kate Douglas. Children's Rights: A Book of Nursery 
Logic. Pp. 235. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1892. 

Inspired by Froebel. Contains an excellent discussion of moral gov- 
ernment and discipline and of children's reading, with perhaps an occa- 
sional failure to recognize the harder realities of Ufe. 

Timothy's Quest. Pp.201. Houghton, 

Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1892. 

An exquisite story of two children and how they were missionaries to 
crystallized humanity. 



and Smith, Nora Archibald. The 

Republic of Childhood. Three vols. : I. Froebel's Gifts, pp. xi+ 
202; 1895. II. Froebel's Occupations, pp. 313; 1896. III. 
Kindergarten Principles and Practice, pp. 205 j 1896. Hough- 
ton, Mifflin & Co., I3oston. 



BIBLIOGRAPHT 341 



Winterburn, Florence Hull. From the Child's Standpoint : 
Views of Child Life and Nature. A Book for Parents and 
Teachers. Pp. 278. The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 
(copyright) 1899. 

A rather miscellaneous series of articles dealing with child life and our 
treatment of children. Fine in sympathy with childhood, but advocat- 
ing a somewhat soft rtigime, and perhaps not sufficiently appreciative of 
the parent. 

Nursery Ethics. Pp.241. The Mer- 

riam Co., New York, 1895. 

A pleasant book, containing some good counsel, especially in reference 
to the treatment of young children. Accepts, as true, unproved theories 
such as that concerning direct prenatal influence. At times verges on 
the sentimental view of childhood. 

Woltmann, Ludwig. System des moralischen Bewusstseins mit 
besonderer Darlegung des Verhdltnisses der kritischen Philoso- 
phie zu Darwinismus und Socialismus. Pp. xii+391. H. Michela, 
Diisseldorf, 1898. 

Very little on moral education, but that little excellent. See pp. 383- 
387 for an admirable brief dialogue illustrating the method of dealing 
with children's questions regarding sex. 

Wood-Allen, Mary. Moral Education of the Young. In The 
National Purity Congress, Its Papers, Addresses, and Portraits, 
edited by Aaron M. Powell, pp. 224-238. The American Purity 
AUiance, New York, 1896. 

Discusses the education of children in regard to sex. Good, if some- 
what overstated. 

Woods, Robert A., Editor. Americans in Process: A Settlement 
Study by Residents and A ssociates of the South End House. Pp. 
ix+389. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1902. 

Concrete material presenting the conditions of life in the crowded sec- 
tions of Boston. Shows in a special form the problem of moral educatioa 
as presented by modern city Ufe with rapid immigration. 

Editor. The City Wilderness. Pp. vii-t-319. 

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1898. 

A study by various writers, chiefly residents of the South End House, 
Boston. Of the same type as Americans in Process. The two books 
bear the same relation to the problem of moral education in Boston as 
those by Jacob Riis sustain to the problem in New York. 

Yoder, A. H. Study of the Boyhood of Great Men. In Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. Ill, pp. 134-156. Worcester, October 1894. 

A study of the earlj' life of fifty eminent men. Emphasizes the need 
of recognizing and fostering talent in the child. An original and sug- 
gestive piece of work complementary to the numerous studies of defect- 
ives. 
Young, Sarah, Delegated Authority. In Studies in Education, 
edited by Earl Barnes, vol. II, pp. 218-226. 

An inductive study of the reaction of children on a specific question of 
discipline. The study is followed by some further notes by the editor 
on delegated authority. 



INDEX 



Addams, Jane 118, 187. 

Adler, Felix 91, 120, 194, 
213-214, 242. 

jEschylus, 241. 

^sop, 225. 

Agassiz, Louis 205. 

Aim of Moral Education, 
summed up 65-66, 293. 

Alcibiades, 58. 

Alcohol, instruction in regard 
to 210-211. 

Aldrich, Auretta Roys 88. 

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey 262. 

Amiel, 28-29. 

Angelo, Michael 249. 

Aristotle, 47, 59, 148, 238. 

Arnold, Matthew 5, 253. 

Arnold, Thomas 206. 

Art, response to highest possible 
on any plane 103-105; in 
school-room 104-105; vitality 
and truth in primitive 237- 
239 ; expression of ideal in 248 ; 
laws of life carried to comple- 
tion in 250-252; treatment of 
evil in 252; moral effect of, 
255-256, 257. 

Arts of Expression, should be 
acquired before the study of 
the grammar of art 74-75. 

Asceticism, value in education 
201-202. 

AuRELius, Marcus 265. 

Authority, Personal, young 
children resting in 146; ques- 
tioning of 146; progressive 
withdrawal of 152-155. 

Awkward Age, The, right treat- 
ment of 37-39. 



Bacon, Francis 238. 

Bain, Alexander 98. 

Barnard, F. A. P. 77. 

Barnes, Earl 75, 146, 194, 235, 
253, 273, 282. 

Barrie, James M. 13. 

Beauty, moral value of 102; 
adaptation of to child's stage 
of growth 102-107; in nature 
104, 108-109; response of child 
to 105-107. 

Beethoven, 249. 

Beowulf, 245-247, 267. 

Bible, The, stories from, 242; 
use of in schools 264, 280- 
281, 286; relation of to civili- 
zation 281 ; moral value of as 
literature 286; use of in Sun- 
day schools 288-289. 

Biography, see History. 

Biology, contribution of idea of 
evolution by 32. 

Bracq, Jean Charlemagne 
264. 

Briggs, LeBaron Russell 123. 

Browning, Robert 28, 253. 

Bruno, Giordano 226, 232. 

Bryant, Sophie 38. 

Bryant, William Cullen 266. 

BuRK, Frederick 75. 

Butler, Nicholas Murray 64- 
65. 

Byron, 26, 253. 

Camps, Summer 113. 
Carlessness, 163. 
Carlyle, 48-49, 227, 250, 282. 
Casuistry, tendency to in chil- 
dren 219. 



INDEX 34S 



Centralization in Education, City Life, special moral diffi- 

good and evil of 62-65. culties of 93-94, 111-112, 

Chandler, Mary G. 54. 115, 117, 271. 

Character, conception of 3; Cleopatra, 106. 

unity of moral 54; institu- Clubs, boys' and girls', moral 

tions cooperating in cultiva- influence of 126; mothers' 

tion of 55; should be positive 185. 

56-58, 157-158; need of obedi- Coddling, harmful 88. 

ence to limitations 58-59 ; Coeducation, 124-126, 276-277. 

growth in 61-62; summary of Coit, Stanton 126. 

forces molding 67-68; growth Collections, Children's 79. 

of independent 152-155; vir- Companionship, of adults with 

tues necessary in parent and children 82-83, 91-92, 185- 

teacher 188-189. 186, 293-294. 

Chaucer, 267. Conduct, all human action in- 

Chenery, Susan 178. volving moral import 47-48. 

Childhood, interest of in present Confidence of Children, The, 

moment 9-10; spontaneity of conditions of keeping 273- 

10-11; modern interpretation 274. 

of 13; two balancing princi- Courtesy, the behavior of love 

pies in the training of 15-16; 203; importance of in home 

response to beauty in 103- and school 203-204. 

107; evil of over-regulating Culture, value of dependent on 

127-128, 154-155, 178-179; character 50. 

unity in influences molding Culture-epoch Theory, 240- 

180-181 ; sensitiveness to mor- 241. 

al reality in 189-190; sensi- 
tiveness to justice in 193-194; Daniels, Arthur H. 280. 

moral rationalism of 193-194; Dante, 57, 72-73, 164, 165, 174, 

contribution of 294-295. 232, 249, 250, 252, 254, 261. 

Child Labor, 93-94. Darrah, Estelle M. (Mrs. C. 

Child World, The independent B. Dyke) 145, 235, 253. 

meaning of 9, 11-14; char- Darwin, Charles 258. 

acteristics of 9-11; personal Davidson, Thomas 277. 

character of 182; principles of Dawson, George E. 288. 

human life all involved in 209 ; Day, Thomas 223. 

reaction of on the adult world De Garmo, Charles 285. 

294-296. Democracy, breakdown of in 

Christ, Jesus 60, 119. practice 107, 142-143; in the 

Christian Associations, 121, state, 134; in home and school 

127. government 137-139, 141, 

Christianity, view of earth life 145, 153 ; slow growth of in the 

in mediaeval 11, 15; negative state 142; the true principle 

ideals in 59; morality of the of 143; preparation for 155; 

spirit in 60. fickleness of 230; moral lead- 

Church, The, influence of on ership in 230. 

the social atmosphere 120- Descartes, 226. 

121, Diagnosis, moral 167-168. 



344 MORAL EDUCATION 



Discipline, college 140; correc- and school government 153, 

tive, see Punishment and Re- 221 ; aim of 207; subordinated 

WARDS. to moral action 207-208, 220- 

DisEASE, Physical, influence on 221 ; principles guiding 208- 

character 52, 101-102, 180. 213; text-books for 213-215, 

Dreyfus Case, 64, 111. 260; best method of 214-215, 

Duty, conflict of love and duty 264, 267; assignment of regu- 

69-70; conflict of interest and lar periods for 216-218; pre- 

duty in education 70 ; ten- paration of parents and teach- 

dency to be transformed into ers for 221 ; special courses 

love 71-73. for 258, 261-264; abstracting 

moral element in 263; princi- 

Eaton, John 260. pies in organizing material for 

Ecclesiastes, 21. 265-267; in intimate prob- 

Edge WORTH, Maria and Rich- lems of human life 268-278; 

ARD LovELL, 79, 168. function of the Sunday school 

Education, early American 3; in 287-289. 

both science and art in 29-31 ; Ethical Interest, supreme in 

two types of failure possible human life 4, 47, 218; central 

30-31; effect of laws of growth in all expressions of life 259. 

on 39, 45-46 ; subordinate to Ethics, relation to other sciences 

nature 46; moral element cen- 47. 

tral in all 50, 55; unity not Everett, C. C. 214. 

uniformity desirable in 65; Evil, moral value in study of 

results expected from 293; 227-230, 252; victory of good 

difficulty in 294; problem of over, in mythology 243-245; 

pressing for immediate solu- conquering good, in myth- 

tion 294. ology 245-247. 

Eliot, Charles William 76, Evolution, conception of 32, 

183-184, 210-211. . 103; moral, intellectual prin- 

Elizabeth, Queen 226. ciple in 40; parallel in of 

Ellis, A. Caswell 280. individual and race 40-45, 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo 23, 142-143, 236, 240-241 ; moral, 

69,234,250,265. emotional principle in 43; 

Emotions, moral value in cul- moral, from simple to com- 

ture of 51-53, 247; mythology plex 243. 

furnishing good material for Example, Moral Influence of, 
culture of 236-239 ; culture of in parents and teachers 199- 
through literature 253-257; 206; in the study of history 
need to express in good action 226-235 ; in the study of liter- 
all stimulation of 255-256. ature 252. 

England, moral education in 3; 

boys' schools in 125-126. Farm Life, superior moral value 

Ethical Culture Society, of of work in 92, 111. 

New York, 120, 264. Farrar, F. W. 290. 

Ethical Instruction, relation Father, The, relation of to the 

of to moral culture 67, 207- problem of punishment 179; 

208, 258; in problems of home responsibility of 185-186; in- 



INDEX 



345 



fluence of example of 200-201; 
reception of son's confidences 
by 274 ; duty of in instructing 
boys 275. 

Faust, Goethe's as type of irra- 
tional living 42. 

Fear, moral effect of 137. 

Ferguson, W. B. 211. 

FiCHTE, 232. 

Field, Eugene 13, 266. 

Flatland, a book discussing 
space of two dimensions 22. 

Folk-lore, see Mythology. 

FoRBUSH, William Byron 126. 

France, moral education in 3, 
63-64, 213, 259-260, 263-264. 

Francis, St., of Assisi 206, 232, 
264-265. 

Freedom, moral value of 127- 
128, 143; training for 155. 

Froebel, 12, 15, 64, 68, 70, 77, 
78, 135, 166, 177, 186, 192- 
193, 205, 206, 225, 289. 

Games, educational value of 77- 
78; should stimulate activity 
and imagination 79-81; value 
of social combination in 81- 
82 ; mistake in over-regulating 
83. 

Gardens, School 95-96, 112. 

Gates, Eleanor 20. 

George Junior Republic, 144- 
145. 

German Folk-lore 242, 243. 

Germany, moral education in 
3; effect of militarism in 64. 

Gifts, Froebel's 78. 

Giles, Arthur E. 170. 

Gill, Wilson L. 144. 

Gilman, Nicholas Paine 214. 

Gluttony, 163. 

Goethe, 1, 12, 42, 76, 77, 103, 
154, 220, 243, 244, 249, 250. 

Good Taste, Ethical, ciiltiva- 
tion of 254-255. 

Government, influence of on 
moral character 129, 134-137, 



141; of college students 140; 
of infancy 145-146; of 
young people 154-155; of 
children, personal influence 
in 182-183, 188-189; all func- 
tions of united in parent and 
teacher 183; of children, vir- 
tues needed in 188-189. 

Grahame, Kenneth 13. 

Grant, U. S. 234. 

Grimm Brothers 243. 

Grimm, Hermann 242-243. 

Growth, irregularities in physi- 
cal 32-33; irregularities in 
mental and moral 33-34; law 
of rhythm 33-35. 

Habit, should be formed before 
reasoning 75, 148; established 
by work 86-87; of work, how 
formed 92; moral value of 
148-152; need to win child's 
cooperation in forming 149; 
a means of slavery as well as 
freedom 149-151 ; a means of 
adaptation to statical environ- 
ment 151-152; need of super- 
vision by reason 151-152. 

Hahnemann, 162. 

Hale, Edward Everett 77. 

Half-truths, danger of 4. 

Hall, G. Stanley 33, 35, 36, 
169, 170, 172, 173, 275, 280, 
283, 288. 

Harris, W. T. 133. 

Harrison, Elizabeth 116. 

Hebrews, moral restrictions 
among ancient 60. 

Hegel, 240. 

Henry VIII, 282. 

Herbart, 50, 52, 53, 83, 88, 98, 
127, 147, 169, 175, 179, 228- 
229. 

Heredity, 15, 184-185. 

Higginson, T. W. 77. 

HiNTON, C. H. 22. 

History, showing moral law 
225-226; value of heroic in- 



346 



MORAL EDUCATION 



cidents in 226-227; influence 
of great personalities in 227 ; 
moral law revealed in evil 
characters of 227-229 ; rever- 
ence for moral leadership cul- 
tivated by study of 230; pa- 
triotism cultivated by study 
of 230-231 ; humanitarian 
spirit developed by study of 
231-232; conditions of right 
use of for moral culture 232- 
235; broader interpretation of 
needed 233-235; women in, 
234-235 ; organization of mate- 
rial from 259, 265-266 ; using 
incidents from 261-262; inci- 
dental use of 265. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell 184. 

Home, The, moral value of 
beauty in 107-108; right so- 
cial atmosphere in 116; prin- 
ciples in organization of 132; 
effect of tyranny in 135-136; 
aim of democracy in 137, 143; 
application of democracy in 
145, 153; A'alue of for moral 
nurture 186-187. 

HoMEn, 26. 

Hopkins, Louisa Parsons 52. 

Household Tasks, moral value 
in the child's education 90; 
regulation of the child's 92-93. 

Hughes, James L. 290. 

Humanitarian Spirit, The, cul- 
tivation of 231-232; 254-256. 

Humanities, The, moral value in 
study of 224. 

Humor, Sense of, moral value 
of 178-179, 254-255. 

Huntington, James O. S. 85, 
118, 187. 

Hyde, William DeWitt 154. 

Ibsen, Henrik 243, 244. 

Ideals, communicated by con- 
tagion of the spirit 204-206; 
inspired by history and biog- 
raphy 226-227, 234-235; 



appreciation of national and 
cosmopolitan 231-232; in- 
spired by literature 252-253; 
in the commonplace, revealed 
by literature 256. 

Imagination, moral value in cul- 
tivation of 51-53; discipline 
for excessive 163, 170; myth- 
ology furnishing good food for 
236^-239; cultivated by study 
of literature 253-255. 

Imitation, in children 199; of 
behavior 203-204 ; of the ideal 
204-206; of historic personali- 
ties 227; of noble characters 
in literature 252-253. 

Impudence, 146, 191. 

Infancy, need to avoid stimula- 
tion of 38; chief element of 
moral education in 75-76; ad- 
justment of pleasure to life-sus- 
taining action in 75; type of 
obedience in 145-146. 

Institutional Life, evils of for 
children 186-187. 

Interest, opposed to duty in 
education 70. 

Intimate Problems, Instruc- 
tion in, need of 268-269; re- 
sponsibility of parent in 269, 
273-275, 278 ; made difficult by 
instinct of reserve 269, 272 ; re- 
sponsibility of teachers in 269, 
273, 275-276, 278; should in- 
culcate reverence for every 
natural human capacity 269- 
270; mistakes in 271-273, 275; 
conditions of 272-274; right 
method in 275-276, 278; 
place of the school in 275- 
276; value of natural science 
for 275-276; value of litera- 
ture and autobiography for 
276; responsibility of ministers 
and phvsicians in 278. 

Italian Painters, portrayal of 
children by 9. 

Italy, moral education in 3. 



INDEX 



d47 



Jackson, Edward Payson 214. 
James, William 88, 148, 150, 
201-202, 255. 

JOUFFRET, E. 22. 

Joy, art of 83-85. 

Justice, in parent and teacher 

193-197; child's response to 

193-194. 

Kant, 12, 69-70. 
Karma, Doctrine of 15. 
Kempis, Thomas k 265. 

Laloi, Pierre 213. 

Lancaster, E. G. 275, 280. 

Languages, moral value of the 
study of 96. 

Larcom, Lucy 104. 

Larned, J. N. 214. 

Larsson, Gustaf 95. 

Lecky, William Edward Hart- 
pole 14. 

Law, relation of moral and nat- 
ural 48-50; reverence for 
taught by contact with nature 
109-111, 222-223; value of 
free response to 147, 155; par- 
ent and child alike sub- 
servient to, 192-193; in rela- 
tion to temperance instruction 
210-211; history presenting 
life as governed by 225-226; 
literature showing life in rela- 
tion to 250-252. 

Laziness, 163. 

LiARD, Louis 213. 

Lies, Children's, different 
types of 170-171; treatment 
of 170-174. 

Life, Human, each phase of dis- 
tinct in meaning 12; unity of 
14, ■•7, 21, 23; made of simple 
elements 18; centering in each 
person 18-20; unique in each 
individual 25; element of ex- 
periment in 27-29; periods of 
growth in 34-35; ethical ele- 
ment central in 47; moral im- 



port in every aspect of 49; 
a sane balance of activities 201, 
270; solving contradictions of 
philosophy 220; moral value 
in study of 223-224; interpre- 
tation of in literature 250- 
252,256-257; sound meaning 
in each capacity of 269-270. 

Lincoln, Abraham 23, 183, 
188, 189, 230. 

Literature, of moral education, 
reasons for barrenness of 4; 
for children 242, 266-267 ; pe- 
culiar excellence of as a fine 
art 248; accessibility of for 
education 248-249 ; moral 
value of content of 249-250; 
expression of author's charac- 
ter in 250; presenting life in 
relation to law 250-251; treat- 
ment of evil in 252; noble 
characters in 252-253; culti- 
vating appreciation of nature 
253-254; cultivating apprecia- 
tion of human life 254-257; 
ideal in the real revealed by 
256; calming and exalting the 
spirit 256-257 ; organization 
of material from 259, 265, 
266-267 ; using selections from 
261-262; incidental moral use 
of 264-265 ; complementary 
value of mythology and mod- 
ern 266. 

Locke, John 87, 139, 146, 162, 
274. 

Logical Order, opposed to 
order of development 74-76, 
106-107, 212-213. 

Longfellow, Henry Wads- 
worth 266. 

Loti, Pierre 110. 

Love, in parent and teacher 
197-198; taught through cour- 
tesy 203-204. 

Lowell, James Russell 233, 
250, 265, 266. 

Lukens, Herman T. 75. 



348 



MORAL EDUCATION 



Ltttleton, E. 273. 

Mann, Horace 141, 168, 206. 
Manual Training, moral value 

of 95. 
Marion, Henri 254. 
Marsh, Harriet A. 181. 
Mathematics, for space of two 

or four dimensions 21-22; 

moral value of 96-97, 222. 
Matthew, Book of 60. 
McMurry, F. M. 227. 
Mezieres, M. a. 213. 
Militarism, moral effect of 64. 
Mill, James 52. 
Mill, John Stuart 61, 89. 
Milton 103, 267. 
Moral Failure, two forms of 

60-61 ; study of in history 

227-230; study of in literature 

252. 

Moral Initiative, value of 65- 
66. 

Moral Leadership, study of 
230. 

Moralizing 208, 223, 225, 259. 

More, Sir Thomas 226. 

Mother, The, relation of to the 
child 90, 186; preparation of 
185; duty of in instructing 
daughters 275. 

Motherhood, Instinct of 90, 186. 

Mothers' Clubs, 185. 

MowRY, W. A. 133. 

Music, appreciation of 22; in 
school, 105; moral effect of 
255. 

Mythology, place of in primi- 
tive life 236; primitive rev- 
erence for 237 ; artistic vitality 
of 237-238 ; truth in 238-239 ; 
chief argument against use of 
in education 241-242; evil of 
carelessly altering 242-243 ; 
moral value of primitive stan- 
dards in 243-247; contrasted 
with modern literature 266. 



Nagging, 178-179. 

Napoleon, 58, 225. 

Natural Science, moral value 
of 173, 222-224, 275-276. 

Nature, originality of 25 ; child's 
appreciation of 104-105; con- 
trasted with art 109; effect of 
beauty of 109; effect of truth 
of 109; moral culture through 
action in conformity to 109- 
111; contact with in summer 
farm or camp 113; moral 
value in study of 222-224; in- 
terpreted in literature 253- 
254. 

New Education,The, character- 
istics of 5; deeper reverence 
for persons in 17 ; fault in 88. 

New Humanism, The 284. 

Nichol,J. P. 51. 

Norse Mythology, 245. 

Obedience, taught by contact 
with natural law 109-113; 
type of in infancy 145-146; 
problem of transforming blind 
into intelligent 147; moral 
value of unreasoning 148-149. 

Obici, Giulio 273. 

Oppenheim, Nathan 33. 

Orpheus, and the Sirens, story 
of 158. 

Over-regulation of Child- 
hood, evil of 127-128, 154- 
155, 178-179. 

Parent, The, influence of per- 
sonality in 62-63, 182-183, 
188-189; companionship of 
with children 82-83, 91-92, 
185-186, 293-294; questioning 
authority of 146; difficulty in 
conceding freedom to children 
153-155; cooperation with 
teacher 180-181 ; need to con- 
cede authority to teachers 
181 ; all functions of govern- 
ment united in 183; prepara- 



INDEX 



349 



tion of 184-187; responsible 
for the child's heredity 184- 
185; instinct of parenthood 
186; type of character needed 
in 188-189; sincerity in 189- 
193, 209-211; justice in 194- 
197; love in 197-198; influ- 
ence of example of 199-204; 
influence of ideals of 204-206 ; 
task of in ethical instruction 
215-216, 221; duty of to in- 
struct children in intimate 
problems 269, 273-275; re- 
ception of child's confidences 
by 273-274; principles guid- 
ing in religious education 290- 
292 ; education of by the child 
294-296. 

Parties, Children's 116, 270. 

Passing of King Arthur, Ten- 
nyson's, compared to Beowulf 
246-247. 

Patriotism, cultivation of 230- 
231. 

Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer 
172. 

Periods in Development, im- 
portance of 33, 36, 39; law of 
rhythm 33-35; period of sub- 
sidence in mental growth at 
eight or nine 36 ; the awkward 
age 37-39 ; effect on education 
39; moral faults due to 179; 
adaptation of ethical instruc- 
tion to 211-212, 265-267; re- 
lation of instruction in inti- 
mate problems to 271-276; 
relation of religious education 
to 290-292. 

Perseus and Andromeda, myth 
of 244. 

Personality, reverence for in 
the new educg,tion 17; unique 
in each individual 24; balanc- 
ing truths with reference to 
27; unity in moral 54-55; 
value of independence in 62- 
66; moral influence of 62-63, 



182-183, 188-189, 227, 284; 
type of necessary in parent 
and teacher 188-198; value 
of slight expressions of 233. 

Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich 
70. 

Pets, Animal, value of 80 ; possi- 
bility of keeping at school 
112. 

Phillips, Stephen 26-27. 

Philosophy, early Greek 219; 
should follow science and ex- 
perience 219-220. 

Physical Environment, moral 
influence of 101-102, 107- 
108. 

Physical Training, value of for 
morality 51-52. 

Physiology, vicious tendencies 
in text-books on 210-211. 

Plato, 4, 23, 50, 51, 219, 241, 
251. 

Play, character of in relation to 
work 68 ; value of in educa- 
tion 76-77; need to utilize 
consciously 77-78, 85; Froe- 
bel's contribution to the utiliz- 
ing of play in education 78; 
principles which should deter- 
mine play of children 78-83; 
companionship with children 
in 82-83; mistake in over- 
regulating 83. 

Poetry, truth of contrasted 
with history 238-239. 

Prato, Story of the Workmen 
OF 19. 

Prizes, 177-178. 

Progress, Moral, first principle 
of 40; individual repeating 
race 41, 44; second principle 
of 43. 

Psychology, influence on religi- 
ous education of new studies 
in 279-280. 

Public Opinion, effect of in 
school 139. 



350 



MORAL EDUCATION 



Punishment, work not to be 
assigned as 98-99; relation to 
problem of government 156- 
157; Spencer's theory of 157, 
161-166 ; value of utilizing nat- 
ural consequences as 157,161- 
166; aim of 158, 160-161, 166, 
169-170; older theories of 
159-160; as moral medicine 
160-162, 167-170; corporal 
162, 168-169; value of disci- 
pline opposite to the fault 
163-165; Dante's use of 164- 
165, 174; moral attitude de- 
termining effect of 164-165, 
175, 195-197; condition of 
right administration of 167- 
168, 175-176, 178-181 ; princi- 
ples determining 169-170; 
evil in constant and excessive 
178-179. 

Race and Individual, parallel 
in development of 40-45, 142- 
143, 236, 240-241. 

Rationalism, in children 193- 
194. 

Reason, moral value in cultiva- 
tion of 51, 53 4 attempts to 
suppress 147 ; need of to super- 
vise habits 151-152. 

Rebellious Children, cause 
and treatment of 136-137. 

Religion, study of history and 
sources of 281-282; definition 
of 282; elements of 283-284; 
wonder, awe and reverence in 
283; passion for human ser- 
vice in 284; influences mold- 
ing personal 284; child's 
growth in 290-292. 

Religious Education, new in- 
terest in 279-280; Chicago 
Convention on 279, 280; in- 
fluence of psychology on 279- 
280; two problems of 281; 
place of history of religions in 
281-282; task of cultivating 



the higher religious spirit in 
282-284, 292 ; influences to be 
utilized for 284; problem of 
teaching theses of faith 285; 
plans for in foreign lands 285; 
conditions of in American 
public schools 286; duty of 
the teacher in 286-287 ; in pri- 
vate schools 287; place of the 
Sunday school in 287-289; 
principles guiding parents and 
teachers in 290-292; associa- 
tion with persons of other 
faiths, value for 291-292; two 
aims in 292. 

Reni, Guido 106. 

Reports of the Commissioner 
of Education for the Unit- 
ed States 211, 260. 

Respectability, Negative, 
small moral value of 57; the 
burden in all reform 58. 

Revelation, Book of 57-58. 

Reverence, in children 190- 
192; toward intimate problems 
271-272. 

Rewards, two types of 176- 
177; value of natural conse- 
quence of good action 176; 
danger in moral stimulants 
177; place of in education 177- 
178. 

Richardson, F. W. 144. 

Richmond, Ennis 125, 277. 

Riley, James Whitcomb 10, 13, 
266. 

Romans, Epistle to the 164. 

Rosenkranz, Johann Karl 
Friedrich 168-169. 

Rousseau, Jean Jacques 13, 
61, 70, 161, 270. 

Rules, place of in governing 
children 139-140. 

Sanity, The Need of in Edu- 
cation 5-6. 
Sappho, 253. 
Savonarola, 232. 



INDEX 351 



Schiller, 232. Slovenliness, 163. 

School, The, moral value of Sloyd, 95. 

physical conditions in 101- Smith, William Hawley 169. 
102, 107; beauty in 105-108; Smoking, habit of 151; attitude 
social atmosphere in 121-123; of a father or schoolmaster to- 
principles in organization of ward 200-201; instruction in 
133; effect of tyranny in 135- regard to 210-211. 
136; aim of democracy in 137, Social Atmosphere, The, a 
143; effect of public opinion real force 114; in the adult 
in 139; application of de- world 115; different evils of 
mocracy in 145, 153. in wealth and poverty 115; de- 

ScHOOL City, The 144-145. termined by segregation 117- 

ScOTT, Walter 267. 121 ; influence of religious or- 

Selections, from literature, bad ganization on 120-121 ; in the 
use of 261-262. child world 121 ; influence of 

Self-activity, significance in schools on 121-123. 

education 68. Social Segregation, as a means 

Settlements, Social 118, 119. of determining moral atmos- 

Sexes, effects of separation of phere 117; effect on those ex- 
the 124-126; moral value of eluded by 117; effect on the 
healthy association of the segregated 117-118; for the 
124-126, 276-277; need of both sake of service 119-121,127; 
in education 188; presenta- in schools 121-123; by age 
tion of both in history 234- and sex 124-126, 276-277. 
235. Socrates, 206, 226, 251. 

Sex Life, The, "sound meaning Sophocles, 5, 192. 
in 269-270; evil in precocious Spalding, J. L. 53. 
development of 270-271 ; un- Sparta, effect of militarism in 
healthy stimulation of 270- 64. 

271 ; in adolescence 271 ; influ- Spencer, Herbert 33, 47, 157, 
ence of vulgar companions on, 161-166, 178. 
273 ; need to keep the confi- Spinoza, 4, 84. 
dence children to protect 273- Spontaneity, in children 10-11; 
274; wise instruction in regard in American education 64-65. 
to 274-276; effect of healthy Standards, Moral, relative and 
association of boys and girls absolute 62, 212; for children 
on 276-277; effect of adult and adults 199-201; in myth- 
associates on 277-278. ology 241-247. 

Shakespeare, 23, 252, 253, 254, State, The, influence of on char- 
267. acter of citizen 130; principles 

Shearer, W. J. "214. in organization of 131; justi- 

Shirrbff, Emily A. E. 137,166, fication of democracy in 134; 
186. effect of tyranny in 134-135; 

Shuts, Henry A. 128. slow growth toward democracy 

Sincerity, in parent and teacher in 142-143. 

189-193, 278, 290; child's re- Starbuck, Edwin Diller 280. 
sponse to 189. Stevenson, Robert Louis 11, 

Sirens, The, story of 158. 13, 72, 171, 208. 



352 MORAL EDUCATION 

Suffering, effect of on charac- Toys, value of simplicity in 78- 
ter 52, 101-102, 180. 79; should stimulate activity 

SuLLENNESs, 174-175. 79; should stimulate imagina- 

SuNDAY School, The, function of tion 80-81 . 

in ethical and religious in- Tyranny, effect of in the state 
struction 287-289; prepara- 134-135; effect of in home and 
tion of teachers for 288-289. school 135-136. 

Supervision, evil of excessive 

127-128, 154-155. Ulysses, and the Sirens, story of 

Sydney, Sir Philip 226. 158. 

Tardiness, 137-138, 163. Vacation Schools 113. 

Teacher, The, influence of per- Vessiot, A. 259-260. 

sonality in 62-63, 182-183, Virtue, defined, 257. 

188-189; companionship with 

children 82-83, 293-294 ; difh- Wagner, Richard 22, 103, 239, 

culty in conceding freedom to 249 

children 153-155; cooperation Washington, George 183,230, 

with parent 180-181 ; author- 233. 

ity of 181; functions of gov- . ' „ loo ion 

ernment united in 183; pre- ^"^'^^^'^^'t ^ n.,.,.^ ^.. 

paration of 183-184, 186-187, "^f.V'^^A ^^^^ Greenleaf 

261; type of character needed ^"^' ^^'^• 

in 188-189; sincerity in 189- Will, attempts to break 147. 

193 ,209-211; justice in 194- Willoughby, W. W. 159. 

197; love in 197-198; influ- Woltmann, Ludwig 273. 

ence of example of 199-204; Women, in history 234-235. 

influence of ideals of 204-206; Wordsworth, 14, 48, 72, 265, 

task of in ethical instruction 267. 

214-221; duty of to instruct Work, two types of 68; lower 

children in intimate problems type of action tending to pass 

269, 273, 275-276; duty of in into next higher 71-73; per- 

religious instruction 286-287; manently necessary in educa- 

principles guiding in religious tion as in life 73; values of 

instruction 290-292 ; educa- in developing character 86-87 ; 

tion of by the child 294-296. educational value of when 
Teasing, 179. distasteful 89-90; cultivating 

Temperance, 201 ; instruction in respect for 90; companionship 

regard to 210-211. with the child in 91-92; types 

Tennyson, 25, 239, 246-247, fj^ ^''^'1°^ nt?nn' ^'fV^^^'f 
2QJ > > > lation of 98-100; folly of 

■ T7I c-< multiplying obstacles in 99- 

Thomson, t.. 54. 100; in obedience to natural 

Thurber, Charles H. 280-281. law 109-111 
Toleration, the time to teach 

38-39 ; teaching children moral 

202-203. Zeus, legends of 241-242, 



3 47 7 



